Life as a Secret Changeling Prince

Chapters

Prologue: One Must Go
Chapter 1: The Naming Ceremony
Chapter 2: His Second Name
Chapter 3: The Truth
Chapter 4: The Equestrians
Chapter 5: James Bridge
Chapter 6: Vietrot
Chapter 7: Basic Training
Chapter 8: Shangri-La
Chapter 9: Danh Van Tranh
Chapter 10: The Morning After
Chapter 11: One Year Later
Chapter 12: Liliana Rivera
Chapter 13: The Eggs
Chapter 14: A Message from Chrysalis
Chapter 15: History Repeats Itself
Chapter 16: The Interrogation
Chapter 17: Chrysalis and Mantis
Chapter 18: The Rogue Queen
Chapter 19: The Plan
Chapter 20: The Beginning of the End
Chapter 21: The Embassy
Chapter 22: The Fall of Flygon
Chapter 23: Leaving Vietrot
Epilogue: Only Time Will Tell

Prologue: One Must Go

A tall and slender changeling stood over a crib, her expression was hard and exhausted. Her navy mane wasn’t cobwebby like the other changelings, in fact it was in a long and beautiful ponytail. On top of her head was a black tiara, signifying her place as a Queen, of a kingdom she took pride in.

In the crib were two little changeling grubs, both having a full head of messy hair, though curiously they weren’t the same color. One of them had a crimson mane while the other had a dark lime green color, both were snoring contently, every so often making a chirping noise.

“Mother?” A soft voice uttered from behind the Queen, she turned to face her young daughter, Princess Tsubaki, her mane was a pretty shade of sapphire blue. Her face held a solemn look as she seemed to look past her mother and at the crib, as if she was dreading something.

She continued weakly, “can’t you reconsider? Please, they’re only children—”

“One of them being the son of your whore!” Her mother hissed, snapping her head back towards the grubs, there was pure and utter disgust in her eyes as she looked at the green haired one.

The Princess looked down in shame, feeling tears prick at her eyes.

Then her mother said lowly, “you know Royal Law, even if he was your legitimate son, you still need to get rid of one. Twins are a terrible omen, and one needs to rule over Neighon once you are gone, my sweet daughter.”

“What if this is a gift from the Gods? Two lovely children for me to raise and look after, think about it mo—” as soon as Tsubaki saw the harsh look in her mother’s eyes she shut up immediately.

“Fine, choose one and I’ll be back to the Fillypines, I pray Adonis managed to keep things in order while I was gone... what a shame to leave my own kingdom just to see your curse from Caritas,” the Queen gestured towards the grubs and snapped, “choose now.”

Princess Tsubaki choked back a sob and she took shaky steps towards her grubs, then she peered into the crib and saw their sweet faces sleeping peacefully. She smiled sadly, gently caressing her grubs cheeks before kissing them on the foreheads.

“Mother,” she whispered, “if... if I chose one to inherit the throne... what shall happen to the other...?”

The Queen raised an eyebrow, as if the answer was obvious, “you leave the other for dead? Tsubaki Mamekagane, you already know this, it’s Royal Law.”

“Yes mother...” Tsubaki sighed shakily and finally chose, she pointed her hoof at the red haired one, “he shall inherit my throne a-and...” she glanced at her other grub, cracking out, “he’ll be abandoned...”

Her mother smiled at her daughter, wrapping a malformed hoof around her, whispering as if to comfort her, “you made the right choice, my darling.”

Thirteen years later...

“Jung-ho, wake up!” A voice shouted from the kitchen, causing the sleeping teen to jerk awake. He glared at the entrance of his room (he didn’t have a door to glare daggers at unfortunately), asking loudly, “why? It’s Sunday, you said that I would have a day off from work today!”

“I made you gyeran jjim! Unless you don’t want it, your mother will gladly eat it for you!”

That got him up, he practically leaped out of bed and fluttered into the kitchen excitedly. His father was the best cook he knew, though to be fair he didn’t get the chance to eat anywhere else very often.

Standing at the stove was his father holding a small bowl with his magic, he handed it to Jung-Ho with a kind smile. Then he gestured towards the table, sitting there was a female changeling with her bright red cobwebby mane in a bun, “kiss your mother good morning, my little nymph.”

Jung-ho did as told, pecking his mothers cheek with a giggle, “morning mother,” his mom nodded her head in acknowledgement and patted his head.

The young changeling hopped onto his chair and gasped at what was at the center of the table, it was a delicious looking bowl of rice. Next to it was a small cup of soy sauce, his father really outdid himself today, he usually barely had time to cook what with taking care of the farm and Jung-ho himself.

He happily took a spoonful of his steamed egg, it practically melted in his mouth, light and fluffy, just as it should be. “Thank you papa,” he said between bites.

His mother lightly scolded, “don’t talk with your mouth full, that’s not proper for a boy.”

He pouted his lip before obeying his mother, chewing slowly before swallowing.

Then his father said with a soft look in his red eyes, “now Stonefly, give the boy a break, he has such an amazing day to look forward to!”

“I do?” Jung-ho questioned.

“Netwing I highly doubt he’ll be excited about this,” she responded rather cynically.

Netwing inhaled sharply, as if he was biting his tongue, then he looked at his son with a smile, “I’m sure you’ll be happy about this, today you’re going to get your second name and we found out you’ll be eligible for the matchmaker next week!”

Jung-ho choked on his egg, looking at his father with disbelief in his eyes, “you’re kidding right? I’m only thirteen!”

“Your old enough to be engaged, after all I was promised to your mother when I was your age. It’s traditional, and don’t worry, I’ll be the one helping you prepare for it. Also the thing about your second name, you should be excited about that, you won’t have to use your real name everywhere and risk identity theft or something.”

Stonefly snorted, “let’s hope he doesn’t get stuck with something as ridiculous as Netwing,” she ignored the annoyed look on her husbands face.

“You won’t be able to choose it but I’m sure it’ll suit you, why I can’t remember the last time someone referred to me as Yang Ji-hoon!”

His wife mumbled, “you didn’t have anyone to call you that but okay.”

Jung-ho frowned at his mother’s words, knowing that it hurt his fathers feelings but he couldn’t do anything about it. So he hugged his father and said, “hey do you think you can come with me, I’m sure mom has soldierly work to do today!”

That was right, his mother was one of a thousand soldiers in the Empress’s army, she was tough in both personality and physique. Sometimes he admired her strength while other times he was worried about her temper.

“You’re not wrong about that,” she replied, taking a slow sip of her tea.

Netwing looked at her with a longing gaze for a moment, as if he was searching for something lost between them. Then his son tugged at his arm, “come on! It’ll be a father-son day, we haven’t had one in forever!”

His father blinked a few times before muttering, “I guess that sounds fun, come on now, finish your food and we’ll be on our way.”

Author's Note

My first mlp fic on this site!! I also have been dying to write on my changeling OCs and their kingdoms/culture. So I hope you’ll enjoy my interpretation of them (btw Tsubaki’s Empire is based on Japan while her mothers is based on the Philippines, Jung-ho is currently in a Korean-esque empire)

Chapter 1: The Naming Ceremony

Jung-ho let out a cheerful laugh as he flew through the fields, hearing his father say something along the lines of, “just don’t step on the crops, son! We just had the fields flooded.”

His father was walking on the trail next to the field, watching his son with a content smile on his face. Then he glanced back at his home with a frown, thinking of his wife’s constantly scorning face towards him.

Netwing was really trying his best to keep his smile up for his son, he could only pray to the Gods that he’d somehow be happy in his marriage. That is if he could even pass the matchmakers test next week, Netwing barely passed his despite the fact he cheated!

“Papa, look what I found!” He turned his head to see his son holding up a colorful rock, so he said in an overly amused tone (as parents often do with children), “oh wow! That’s really beautiful.”

“Right?!” Jung-ho put it in his saddle bag and eagerly fluttered back to his fathers side.

Netwing swore he could hear his son buzzing from excitement, “ready for your second name, son?” Jung-ho nodded with a determined look in his eyes.

Right... his eyes.

Netwing just hoped that the other changelings in the village wouldn’t question Jung-ho’s appearance, he resembled one of the royals but as he explained several times to the villagers, it was impossible. He just hoped the facade would last for a little longer, especially when he looked down at his humming son, who looked back at him with a grin.

He was well aware that he was going to get the comment of his son resembling a changeling from Vietrot (thanks to his bright green hair), which he despised hearing. It was so tempting to have him disguise himself but he couldn’t, it was forbidden during such an important ceremony.

“Papa, do you think they’ll make me wear a hanbok?” Jung-ho asked.

Netwing blinked a few times in thought before mumbling back, “probably, I wore one during mine.”

Jung-ho pouted adorably, making his father crack a smile. “But they’re so itchy! And you know that they won’t give me a nice one like they do for the rich nymphs!” He complained, stomping his hoof in annoyance.

“Now son, that’s not true. They give it to you based on appearance, and you’re a very lovely boy!” Netwing squished the teenagers cheeks between his hooves, “I’m sure you’ll get a nicer one than the one that the Butterfly’s son’ll get.”

“You mean Ha-jun?” He remembered the bratty teen he met at one of the festivals, now don’t get him wrong! Ha-jun was extremely pretty and graceful, it just was overshadowed by his spoiled behavior.

Netwing nodded, then paused in his step. He then said, “you might want to look to your right,” Jung-ho did just that and screeched as he was tackled to the ground.

“Jung-ho!” A high pitched voice hollered as the teenager tumbled into the flooded field, it was Jung-ho’s best friend and partner in crime, Min-jun Lee.

Jung-ho spit out the water that got in his mouth and immediately exclaimed, “Min-jun!” He hugged his best friend tightly, earning a giggle from him.

“I’m so sorry Netwing!” A female voice said, the friends turned their heads to see a female changeling standing next to Jung-ho’s father.

She was taller than him by several inches, typical of female changelings but wasn’t as muscular as most. Her red cobwebby mane was in a loose braid that reached halfway down her leg, her face had the lightest bit of makeup.

Netwing shook his head, tilting his satgat hat (rice hat) in respect to the female. “It’s really alright Orchid, I’m sure that Jung-ho doesn’t mind,” he held out his hoof to help the teens out of the water, Min-jun took it first and pulled his friend along with him.

Orchid still scolded her son, who smiled sheepishly at her.

She was a strange case for a female, with softer and more kind behavior, which was usually displayed exclusively in males. She also wore makeup, which was seen as a taboo for females, as it was suggested that they were a concubine of some sort.

“I suppose that Min-jun is getting his second name as well?” He guessed, Orchid answered with a nod.

“That is if he doesn’t embarrass himself,” she grumbled, lightly glaring at her sheepish son, who gave a halfhearted apology.

Jung-ho excitedly grabbed his friends hoof and pulled him along down the trail, leaving the adults behind.

Netwing frowned, turning to Orchid to quietly ask, “is Min-jun eligible for the matchmaker next week?” Orchid winced before nodding.

“I worry for my son,” she whispered.

“As do I.”

“Yang Jung-ho.”

“Present—”

“Speaking without permission.”

Well the ceremony was going as great as Netwing expected, though it didn’t stop him from cringing at his sons eagerness. So he whispered a soft prayer to the luck goddess Fortuna, hoping for the best.

The plump female changeling that stood on a podium was holding a clipboard, she held a look of annoyance towards the teenager. Then she called out two other names: “Lee Min-jun” and “Nabi Ha-jun”.

Min-jun proceeded to call out a loud “here!” Most likely trying to make his friend feel better, it kind of worked so that was good enough for him. His mother flushed bright red in embarrassment, covering her face from the others as she whispered, “Sol help me.”

Ha-Jun on the other hoof, stood up with his head held high, not making a single sound. The female nodded in approval, even saying to herself, “very good.”

She gestured for the boys to follow her into the temple, two out of three of them trying not to trip over hanboks. Yeah by the way, Netwing was correct about them wearing the traditional dresses, which honestly annoyed Jung-ho.

His hanbok had a more green theme to it, with patterns of swallowtail butterflies decorating it. Min-jun and Ha-jun both had a more reddish-pink to theirs, due to their red manes.

All of them had their manes done up so it was out of their faces, giving her a more clear view of their natural looks (meaning makeup wasn’t allowed for this ceremony). Luckily for Min-jun, he was very pretty with a cute face in Jung-ho’s opinion.

It was a wonder how snail gel could hide the holes in their manes, in fact the males who were getting the boys all done up told both Min-jun and him specifically that they’d only get to wear it twice in their lifetimes. First for this ceremony, and the last time when they met the matchmaker, due to the fact that they could never afford it on their own.

The female introduced herself as Firefly, her cold smile sent shivers down the friends spines. Unlike them, Ha-jun looked charmed by her, even blushing a bit as she lifted his chin up.

“A member of the Butterfly Clan, it is an honor to be in the presence of a descendant from the Heliconides!”

Jung-ho had to force himself not to roll his eyes, he almost forgot that members of the Butterfly Clan were rumored to be descended from one of the nine Gods of Art, Poetry, Music, Beauty, and Butterflies... even though they don’t know which one it was.

Ha-jun batted his eyelashes before bashfully saying, “thank you kindly, Firefly. My family is very proud of our heritage!” Min-jun cracked a smile and glanced at Jung-ho, his look practically screaming ‘seriously?!’.

Firefly looked around the room, as if she was looking for something specific. The boys realized that they were surrounded by statues of Gods, Warriors, Concubines, and iconic figures from Changeling History. It honestly made Jung-ho a little uncomfortable.

She made a “aha!” Sound before pointing at one of the statues, it in a group of eight others. Jung-ho quickly identified it as Glasswing, the Heliconide of Beauty.

“I believe that your name was selected even before you got here, my young Glasswing.”

Jung-ho snorted on accident, causing Firefly’s head to snap towards him, saying through clenched teeth, “what’s so funny, Yang?”

“I-I mean,” he held back his giggles as he explained, “wasn’t there also a concubine named Glasswing?”

Ha-jun glared daggers at him, blushing as he snapped, “Glasswing was one of the four beauties of Fanghai, mind you! He’s practically worshipped as a God there, so show some respect you maggot.”

Firefly smirked as she said, “don’t worry Yang, I have a name in mind for you but first, I should give Lee his first.”

Min-jun straightened up with a nervous smile, it was wiped off his face when Firefly said with venom in her tone, “Cricket sounds suitable.”

Cricket... Cricket? Who was that again? It took Jung-ho a moment to realize that she was talking about a disgraced member from the Hwarang.

Then she turned her head back towards Jung-ho and in the same venomous tone, “I have the perfect name for you.”

“R-really?” Jung-ho stuttered.

She tilted her head towards a statue, Jung-ho gulped before slowly looking towards it. His breathe was caught in his throat as he uttered, “n-no...”

Firefly confirmed his worst fear, “your second name shall be Mothball, named after one of Empress Tsubaki’s favorite concubines.”

He didn’t even hear the cackle coming from Glasswing or Cricket’s horrified gasp.

This was not happening to him right now...

Author's Note

I actually a couple of reason’s for mothball technically being his second name, mostly because in this universe Mothball from Disneyfanatic2364 (check out her stories they’re amazing honestly) is a canon character. He comes in WAAAYYY later, but he is important tbh

Chapter 2: His Second Name

“M-Mothball?!” Jung-ho cracked out, looking at the statue and back at Firefly, his mouth agape.

Firefly nodded with a smug look on her face, “and I suggest you get used to being called that, who knows, maybe your looks would get you into the bed of the Empress one day?” With that, she turned and walked away with her head held high.

Jung-ho fell on his haunches, eyes wide in shock, his breathing beginning to quicken. Cricket ran over and tried to say something to him but it fell on deaf ears, as Jung-ho looked back at the sculpture, he began to feel sick.

The sculpture was rather new compared to all of the other ones in the temple, made not even fifteen years ago. It was to honor Empress Tsubaki of Neighon’s favorite lover, Mothball, also known as Seo-jun Park.

The pose it was in was rather flattering, he was sprawled out on the podium with his soft face resting on his right hoof. He had a subtle smile on his face, fangs just barely poking out from his lips. His mane was in rolls that somehow perfectly matched his semi-long braid, meanwhile his tail was rolled up into a bun.

The outfit he was in was the worst part for Jung-ho, as he was wearing the typical clothes of a concubine. The shirt had long flowing sleeves as if to show how slender he was, frills were visible from the collar of his shirt, and most revealing of all was the large slit in the skirt that showed off his left back leg.

As if it could be any more humiliating, the statue was made of pure jade, as if showing how much the Empress desired and loved him.

Jung-ho cringed as he continued to stare at his namesake, but was snapped out of his negative thoughts by Cricket grabbing his face and saying, “earth to Jung-ho! Are you there?!”

He gulped and was about to speak before Glasswing mockingly said, “don’t you mean Mothball, Cricket? You know the rules around here, once your second name is assigned, there’s no changing it!”

“I’m not calling him that if he’s not comfortable with it!” Cricket snapped, helping his friend onto his hooves, whispering that they should get going now.

Jung-ho slowly nodded, taking one last look at the statue and following his friend out, trying his hardest to ignore the taunts made by Glasswing.

“So how did it go?” That was the first thing Netwing asked, which made his son want to curl up and die on the spot.

“Fine.”

Netwing cocked an eyebrow, “just... ‘fine’? What name did they give you?” Jung-ho stayed silent, looking at the ground in shame.

Orchid looked concerned and whispered to her son, “ what is it?” Cricket hesitated before whispering back the name.

She gasped and slapped her hoof over her mouth, which startled Netwing before he pushed, “Jung-ho, what did they name you?”

“Mothball,” he cracked out, tears filling his eyes as his cheeks flushed bright green.

His father took a moment to process this, slowly turning to look towards the temple. After a moment of silence, he mumbled, “let’s get going, I have to get to working on the fields...”

Jung-ho tried to say something else but his father already started to walk away, he looked to Orchid and Cricket, who gave him sympathetic looks. “It’ll be okay, you will never bring your family dishonor,” she whispered to him, nuzzling his head to comfort him.

He just sighed and ran off in the direction his father went, it’s not like his day could get any worse than this.

He was wrong, it did get worse.

Turns out his mother had been dishonorably discharged from her position in the army, from what he could catch from his parent’s argument she did one of two things: she either assaulted the Wonsu’s (General) son by attacking him or... attempting to assault him in a way that made Jung-ho sick just imagining.

Jung-ho was curled up in his bed, hiding his head underneath his cheap pillows. He could still hear them arguing, loud and clear despite this.

He swore he even heard her say in their native language, “ 그걸 요청했어!” he genuinely wanted to vomit as he understood exactly what she said.

‘He was asking for it!’

Like his consent didn’t matter at all...

Luckily his father had retorted in a disgusted tone, “h-how dare you say that?! Dragonfly is a changeling, just like you! Just like me, he deserves the same decency that you have as a female! Just because he’s a male that’s deemed as ‘inferior’ doesn’t mean you have the right to assault him in such a horrible way!”

“Oh Mr. High and Mighty is telling me right from wrong now? Why just last week I saw you berating your son for acting too tough in front of the girls his age!”

“That has nothing to do with this! And I did it for his protection, now j-just... shut up!”

“And speaking of your son, might I remind you that he was born the bastard of a whore?! You can’t keep treating him like he’s some angel, that little brat needs to learn discipline the right way. And believe me, I’ll be more than happy to do it for you!”

Jung-ho whimpered as he heard hoof steps approach his room, he silently prayed to the Goddess Nati for protection. He had no idea if it was his father or mother, he begged the Gods for it to be the former.

Then a gentle hoof was placed on his head, he peeked out from his blankets and saw his fathers sad face looking at him. He pulled the blankets off himself and awkwardly stared at him, not knowing what to say after hearing their brutal argument in the kitchen.

“S-son...” Netwing cracked out, his voice was hoarse from shouting, tears were beginning to form in his red eyes.

Jung-ho freezed up, “Yes papa?” He almost never saw his father cried, yes he’s seen him sad before but never to the point of tears.

Netwing wrapped his hooves around his son and whispered almost painfully, “we need to go away... I don’t know for how long but we just need to... okay?”

Jung-ho nodded, hugging his father back as tight as he could, hearing him begin to softly cry against his mane. His heart broke every time he heard his father sniffle or gasp for air, sounding so defeated.

He was released after a few minutes of hearing him sob, being instructed to pack his clothes and anything of value, they were to leave in the dead of night. Netwing also told him something strange, “I need to tell you something once we’re far away enough, and I want you to know that even once you know the truth, I will forever love you as my son, alright?”

Jung-ho questioned this, only to be answered with, “this has to do with your second name, and be it the Gods blessing or curse you were given it...”

Chapter 3: The Truth

Jung-ho took in a deep breath, holding it as he tiptoed across the hallway, he knew that he he tried to fly out his mother would hear him. Curse how loud flying was...

He had his saddleback on, inside of it was small religious figures, a moth plushie that was given to him as a grub, and whatever won he could scrap up from his room.

His father was waiting in the fields, as he made the excuse of needing to check for the Giant Hornet nest. Stonefly believed it without second thought, as she probably just didn’t feel like looking at him anymore.

Once he managed to get to the front door, he stopped. He couldn’t help but think, ‘are we really coming back? Do I want to come back?’ He looked around the room, it was the kitchen...

So many sweet memories, cooking with his father, drawing with his older cousins on the ground as his father sung in their native language...

He knew that they were probably never coming back, and it hurt so much that they couldn’t.

Before he could change his mind, he quietly opened the door and sped out, leaving second thoughts behind. Running through the fields and whisper-yelling for his father, who ran towards him and pulled him into a protective hug.

“Let’s go,” he whispered, picking up Jung-ho and placing him on his back.

“Where are we going?” His son asked, burying his face in Netwing’s mane.

Netwing didn’t respond, starting to run down the trail, not going to fast to make sure his son stayed on his back. Eventually though, he gave an answer, “somewhere I should have taken you years ago.”

Then he quietly asked for Jung-ho to try and sleep, as he wasn’t sure how long it was going to take getting to their destination on hoof. Jung-ho yawned and mumbled, “ok papa...” and closed his eyes, somehow managing to drift off into sleep.

“Son, wake up, we’re here.”

Jung-ho woke up with a snort, rubbing his eyes as he squinted through the sunlight. How long had his father been running? The sun was starting to rise!

He was about to question this when his father gently set him on the floor, gesturing towards a small house. It looked simple but to be completely honest, it was in much better shape than Jung-ho’s family home.

He raised an eyebrow, “can we go inside?” Netwing looked around, hesitating before saying, “technically we can, but we’re not supposed to. But this is important to we have to, this is for your sake.”

“We’re breaking the law?!”

“I wouldn’t call it breaking the law, it only matters if we’re caught. In fact, you have a right to this place, now come on, nymph!”

Netwing led him inside, glancing behind him to see his son taking a few steps inside before asking, “are you sure we won’t get in trouble?”

“I’m positive, son! Now come in here,” he pointed at a room, it appeared to be a bedroom. Jung-ho peeked his head in, feeling more confused as he observed the abandoned room.

It was average sized, with a bed in the corner, a few religious figures were set on a dusty vanity. Though the thing that stuck out to him was the sketchbook that sat on the mattress, next to it was a dull pencil that had tape on it, as if it was snapped in half.

Netwing whispered for him to look at it, and curiosity got the best of him so he immediately fluttered over and opened the book. He was startled by just how intricate and detailed it was, the type of paint appeared to be water color, Jung-ho’s favorite type.

The first few pages were drawings of flowers, before eventually being beautiful portraits of changelings that Jung-ho didn’t recognize. That is until he saw a very familiar face, “is that...?”

“Empress Tsubaki? Indeed.”

“B-but, she looks so different in this. I mean compared to the portraits in the temples!” He wasn’t wrong, he specifically remembered seeing her paintings with pale grey skin, bright and shiny sapphire blue hair, and having thin ears.

Meanwhile in this drawing, she was a bit darker and her mane wasn’t as lustrous as it was rumored to be, but she was still beautiful! Just... not what the public thought of her.

It took him a moment to notice that her mane had holes in it, appearing as cobwebby as any peasants. It was weird to say the least, seeing someone who was held to the standard of a Goddess, look so much like him.

Then he saw there was writing on the side, he realized it was Ancient Changeling Runes, something he could speak but not read very well. So he asked his father to read it for him, who translated, “‘Tea Flower’, that’s what he called her since he couldn’t properly translate it in Thaydonese!” He let out a soft giggle as he saw what his son missed in the portrait, the little green kiss marks that were all over her.

“He?” Jung-ho repeated, looking away from the portrait.

Netwing replied with, “Park Seo-jun, also known as—”

“Mothball,” he interrupted with an unamused expression.

His father nodded, “this belonged to him, this house used to be his before Empress Tsubaki practically dragged him into her palace. Her poor wife was said to be furious about it but, what can you do?”

Jung-ho blinked a few times, rapidly looking around the room, as if piecing things together. “Do... I have to do with him?” Netwing frowned as he reminded him, “please know that I love you dearly, okay?”

“Okay...”

With a sharp inhale, Netwing confessed, “you’re not my biological son, or even your mothers..” silence filled the room, Jung-ho broke it with a laugh, confusing Netwing.

Then he waved him off saying, “very funny papa, I really thought you were serious for a second.”

He expected his father to also smile and laugh with him, but the serious look on his face said otherwise. “You’re... not joking?”

Netwing shook his head, “I’m sorry, son...”

Jung-ho didn’t know how to respond, he knew there were times where he thought of this possibility, even knew that it was impossible for him to not resemble his parents in the slightest but... he never wanted to hear it out loud.

After an even longer pause between them, Jung-ho whispered, “then... who are my parents?”

“Be honest with me, do you really want to know?”

“Yes! Tell me!” Jung-ho shouted, throwing the sketchbook at his false father.

Netwing sighed and opened the book, stopping at a specific page and turning it to face it towards him. Jung-ho felt his stomach drop as he saw who it was, Mothball and Empress Tsubaki.

“No... no no! You can’t be serious, they can’t be my—”

“I’m telling the truth, Jung-ho. Seo-jun never met you but Tsubaki saved your life, she gave you to us.”

Jung-ho slid off the bed and began backing away from him, “no!” Netwing continued speaking, “you’re the twin to Prince Hibiscus, your mother had to make a choice for who would take the throne after her. She chose him, but secretly sent you to us in a basket that was meant for rice seeds... she kept your survival secret from the public and Queen Ambrosia, her mother.”

“Stop talking!” Jung-ho snapped, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“She knew that if rice farmers raised you and not nobles or someone of higher power, her mother would never find out.”

Without another thought, Jung-ho bolted out the room and the house, ignoring Netwing’s protest for him to stop. He couldn’t stay here, he didn’t want to be here. His father was a Vietrotnese concubine and his mother was the Neighonese Empress, meaning he was born a bastard to two different changelings.

He was the definition of dishonor.

Author's Note

Here are the portraits!

Chapter 4: The Equestrians

Jung-ho didn’t know how long he had been flying, his wings ached and were practically begging him to stop but he could care less. He had to get away from that place, he had to get away from this godforsaken country.

He never wanted to stay here for the rest of his life anyways, he was just leaving earlier than he expected. But there was something he had to do first, and it was the hardest thing he was going to do.

He looked down at the small houses below him and spotted the one he was looking for, “Cricket!” He called out, flying down towards it.

His friend peeked his head out of the window, looking tired as he said, “Jung-ho? What are you doing here this early, is something wrong?” Jung-ho landed right in front of him.

He began to rapidly explain everything in vivid detail, having to repeat himself several times as Cricket could barely understand his hysterical explanation. After what felt like the third time, Cricket finally understood and stood agape as it dawned on him.

“Y-you’re... a Prince?!” He exclaimed before Jung-ho slapped his hoof over his mouth, “yes but shush! I was supposed to be killed remember!”

Cricket nodded and made a muffled apology, after Jung-ho sighed, he suddenly pulled his friend into a tight hug. “I-I can’t stay here,” he uttered, clearly startling Cricket.

“What, why?!” He questioned, looking clearly shocked.

“Cricket, I don’t belong here. I’ve never belonged here, you’ve seen the way the elders look at me!” Jung-ho firmly stated.

Cricket looked at the verge of tears when he asked in a shaky voice, “Where are you going?”

“... that’s a good question, just out of here.”

“Take me with you!”

Jung-ho made a “huh?” sound as Cricket grabbed his hooves, “you can’t leave me, please! I promise I won’t trouble you, just let me come with you.”

He shook his head, “Cricket, you can’t do that to your parents. Besides your dad will need you here when the egg cracks,” he gestured inside to a little basket in the corner.

Inside there was a glowing green egg sitting inside it, Cricket whimpered as he stared at it, clearly having second thoughts at the sight of his future sibling. It basically confirmed that he couldn’t come, no matter how much he protested.

Then he looked back at his friends green eyes, whispering in an unusually delicate voice, “will I see you again?”

“I’ll try but—”

“Promise me. Even if it’s just once.”

Jung-ho hesitated, but the pleading look in his friends eyes made him give in, “alright, I promise.”

Without warning Cricket quickly pecked his lips, making him freeze up. Then Cricket softly whispered, “ 조심하세요.”

‘Be careful.’

He then hoofed over a rice hat, it was his very own hat for when he worked in his family’s fields. Perhaps he saw it as a token of his friendship... and affection...

After gulping and putting the hat on his head, Jung-ho replied with, “ 그럴게요.”

‘I will.’

Giving each other one last parting glance, Jung-ho took off into the early morning’s sky, his lips still tingling from the quick kiss.

Two young stallions were marching behind a group of other stallions their ages or even younger, both of them were engaged in deep conversation. One of them was bright yellow with a red mane, his eyes were emerald green. The other was dark brown with a silver mane, his eyes were bright blue.

The darker of the two began to tease, “oh come on Bright Mac, brighten up—”

“Burnt!” The yellow stallion exclaimed in a heavy southern accent, punching his friends shoulder.

“It’s not that big of a deal, I’m sure Buttercup is doing fine back at home with Chiffon.”

Bright Mac rolled his eyes as he grumbled, “That don’t mean I ain’t missing her! She’s still pregnant with our first kid, might I remind ya.”

“I almost forgot about that, couldn’t you guys have just waited a little longer? I mean you’re both still eighteen,” Burnt chided thoughtfully.

His friend was about to respond before pausing, stopping in his tracks. Then he raised an eyebrow, “hey is it just me or is somepony over there?” He pointed towards a bush, seeing green hair poking out.

Burnt squinted as he observed, “and is the horn on that pony.. deformed?”

Jung-ho had never seen anything like this! So this is what Equestrians looked like, he had only heard bits and pieces about them through pieces of literature and whispers between the elders of his village.

They were all so... colorful! And they had strange pictures on their flanks? All of them had different ones, he saw one with a rolling pin, another with two curved candy sticks (candy canes he guessed, having heard of them once), and even an Equestrian with half an apple with a star on it!

... A right of passage? He guessed, having never heard or seen anything about unique markings on flanks.

He gasped and ducked down as the very stallion with the apple marking stopped in his tracks, staring in his direction.

He had been spotted!

Oh no, oh no! He had heard of what traveling Equestrians favor changelings for, seeing them as an ‘exotic experience’, just the term made him shiver in disgust.

Jung-ho glanced up and saw a yellow face looking down at him, with a squeak, he turned into a pebble on instinct. The stallion let out a, “woah! Burnt come’ere, I think I just found a local!”

Another face popped into view, a much darker one with pretty blue eyes.

“Bright Mac, that’s a pebble.”

“I swear it was a changeling at first, it... shape-shifted into this here pebble,” he picked it up and held it to his friends face.

Jung-ho, not being trained very well in the “art of shapeshifting” as Netwing phrased it, promptly turned back into himself and made the yellow stallion fall down with him.

Locking eyes with the green-eyed stallion, he started to panic and tried to apologize as he scrambled back onto his hooves. They both looked at him with bewildered looks, the yellow one saying, “hey hey! We won’t hurt you, you just surprised us is all.”

The changeling still tried to cover his face with the hat, whimpering in fear.

The darker one proceeded to lift his chin up, raising an eyebrow as he admitted, “sorry, guess we were the ones who gave you a scare, huh?” Jung-ho wanted to nod but couldn’t stop shaking, his lip quivering.

“My name’s Bright Mac,” the yellow one said, pointing at himself, “that’s Burnt Oak... wait, wait.” He stopped talking as he realized something, beginning to slowly say, “do you understand us? We’re speaking Equinish—”

“I can speak Equinish!” Jung-ho snapped in annoyance, startling Bright Mac.

“What an interesting accent, and an echoey voice?” Burnt Oak commented, finding the young changeling’s anger to be weirdly adorable.

Jung-ho raised an eyebrow, “what about my accent? What about yours!?” They weren’t wrong about him having an accent, he genuinely didn’t realize it.

When he talked he unintentionally emphasized the ‘o’ and ‘a’ sounds weirdly, but to be fair he had never heard an actual Equestrian pronouncing these words before.

Plus the fact that their voices were so crystal clear and not “echoey” as Burnt described it, only made his head spin a bit in confusion. It was so weird to him.

Burnt responded to his question with, “well compared to ours it sounds a little strange, nothing wrong with it! It’s just funny to hear.”

“Plus, we’re from the country part of Equestria so that’s our excuse,” Bright Mac joked.

Jung-ho pointed at the large group of stallions walking in a single direction, “where are you Equestrians even going?”

Burnt Oak rolled his eyes as he grumbled, “you can just call us ponies, ya know?”

Bright Mac winced as he answered, “we’re heading to Vietrot, you know, Changeling Territory.”

The young changeling tilted his head as he repeated, “‘Changeling Territory’? You know you can just call it a country, right? Also why are you going there, I mean, it’s not like Queen Femina is that pleasant to just visit out of nowhere.”

The stallions cringed, both realizing the naivety of the changeling in front of them. Finally Bright confessed, “you see... we’re not going in to just visit, we were all forcibly drafted into a war against the tyrant Queen Chrysalis.”

Instead of being devastated or even offended as the stallions guessed, Jung-ho just stared at them and back at the marching stallions. Then the asked the following question:

“I’m sorry, are you insinuating that males can fight in war?!”

Author's Note

I like to imagine that Changelings didn’t have that bad of a rep before the Canterlot Wedding Incident, I imagine them being seen only as an “exotic experience” by Equestrians beforehand and they find it extremely demeaning and even disgusting to their proud species. It’ll go a lot more into depth into this obviously objectifying ideology later on

Chapter 5: James Bridge

“Umm... yeah? Isn’t that how it is with you guys?” Bright Mac replied after moments of silence between the three, he didn’t understand why the changeling was so surprised.

Yes it was a messed up system for only stallions to be drafted as they were considered stronger than mares but, what can they do? They were required to join the war through the draft, the ones who dodged it were practically asking to be ridiculed.

Jung-ho shook his head and said, “what? Never! Not unless we were desperate, males are considered too weak to fight. The females are always stronger than us, so we stay at home during wars to work on the fields and take care of the nymphs.”

Bright Mac blinked a few times, “nymphs?” Jung-ho grumbled in response, “children, that’s what nymphs are... anyways, aren’t females the dominating ones in your species?”

The two stallions gave each other a confused look, Burnt saying, “I mean... I’m not sure? Me and Bright Mac here are advocating for the equal rights movement that’s going on but as of now, stallions are considered the ‘stronger’ ones.”

The changeling could only gape, he never heard of such a thing! He was taught from an extremely young age that he was meant to serve his future wife as a servant, yet in Equestria they were trying to make things equal between female and male? It was unheard of...

Then again, it sounded nice.

He wondered what would have happen if he was trained at the age of five to be a soldier, just like the girls in his neighborhood. He would’ve been worked to the bone, told the military rule of ‘die before surrendering’, he could’ve served his country along with his fellow males!

“Bright Mac! Burnt Oak! Where in Tartarus did you two go?!” A loud accented voice shouted, making the two wince.

Burnt Oak whispered, “we need to go! Glad we had this chat Mr....?”

“My name’s Jung-ho... Jung-ho...” he paused, thinking about his surname before finishing, “Park.”

Might as well start getting used to his origins now.

“It was nice meeting you Mr. Park,” Bright Mac smiled, they were about to walk away when the teen made a decision he prayed that he wouldn’t regret.

“Can I come with you?!”

Burnt raised an eyebrow, “Jung-ho, this isn’t some trip that everyone’s returning from. This is a war—“ Jung-ho retorted, “that my species is involved in! I have a right to fight for them as well, you’re assisting the Vietrot Queen, right? That means you’ll be fighting with her subjects, I can blend in.”

“How old are you?” Burnt questioned.

Jung-ho responded, “thirteen, but I’m old enough to fight! Especially since I can change form to be stronger.”

Bright Mac seemed to consider this, as he said, “well the draft did call for specific names and a few are draft-dodgers—meaning that they didn’t come—that you can disguise as. You guys can shape-shift into ponies right?”

Jung-ho nodded excitedly, “give me a name and quick description!” Burnt thought for a moment before saying, “James Bridge, the Pegasus that cowered out from Cloudsdale. He has a slimmer build, has a dark blue coat, blonde hair, and green eyes. Oh and his cutie mark is a white feather I think—“

“A cutie-what?”

Bright Mac pointed at his flank, “a cutie mark, it’s what appears on your flank when you discover your special talent.”

The changeling just sighed as he prepared himself to transform, “you ponies are weird,” then in a bright green flame, startling the two, turned into what Burnt Oak described.

“Hmm, the mane’s a little off but really good for never meeting him!” Burnt complimented, grabbing him by the hoof and pulling him along, “we ought to go now!”

The three ran to join the marching soldiers-in-training, the two were surprised to see their new friend marching perfectly in place with them. As if mimicking truly was what changelings were best at, from appearance right down to behavior.

Interesting.

“Alright boys! We’ll be traveling by Zeppelin, as we’ve been informed that if we go by sea we’ll be immediately attacked. The best we can do now is travel by air until we have another plan,” the Equestrian General announced.

It was strange to the disguised changeling, he remembered the famous Generals in Changeling Countries, all of them were female of course. The one in Fanggook was much taller than him, maybe even more muscular and hardened then him.

Then again, judging from how out-of-shape many of the stallions here appeared, war wasn’t common their ‘friendship’ country.... how nice.

He almost rolled his eyes when he heard someone whisper to the stallion next to him, “you think they have food we can eat in Vietrot? I’d hate to starve to death!”

Apparently someone else heard this question and asked their own in an idiotic tone, “yeah General! How are we supposed to survive out there? Don’t they feast on love to survive—“

“Excuse me?!” The disguised changeling snapped, extremely offended by this claim.

Everyone looked in his direction, staring in confusion as they didn’t understand why he sounded so upset by that question. It was common knowledge to them, didn’t changelings only feast on the emotions of others? That’s what Queen Chrysalis did when she first started attacking Equestria over the years.

Jung-ho blushed in embarrassment, his cheeks flushed bright red, instead of the usual green. He thought about how to respond when a larger asked him in a mocking manner, “why do you sound so offended Bridge? Oh did we hurt your little feelings—“

“No! Are you all seriously this dumb?! The only Changelings to ever do something so... so barbaric are the one in Chrysalis’s army, other than that it’s rumored that the Anugypt Pharaoh Locust did it to preserve her youth but that’s purely myth.”

The General couldn’t help but be impressed, “you seem to know a lot about Changeling culture, are there books you read about it?” Jung-ho hesitated before slowly nodding.

“So to answer everypony’s question about the food situation?”

“Oh right!” Jung-ho was about to bring up the delicious dishes that were in Vietrot when he licked his teeth, they were flat.

He felt inclined to groan, of course ponies were strictly herbivores...

He thought about it before admitting, “well Changelings are actually omnivores, so we-they eat both meat and fruits and vegetables.” Many of the ponies made disgusted noises, the thought of eating meat made shivers run down their spines.

“But, I’m sure that if you make them aware of the fact we’re herbivores, they’ll substitute the meat part of dishes or at least leave it out.”

The General smiled and nodded, “that answer your question, Butterball?”

Jung-ho really had to hold in his laugh this time, but a quiet snorted escaped.

What was wrong with pony names!

Author's Note

Ok so like I imagined changelings soldiers marching and singing “The Morning of the Dragon” from the musical Miss Saigon and... I can’t get it out of my head, it feels too perfect.
Here’s a link to it
https://youtu.be/jj8KchgLnzs

Chapter 6: Vietrot

Jung-ho honestly didn’t know what to expect with pony food, the fact that they were herbivores already bothered him. But he wasn’t expecting to see a strange looking sandwich be slid in front of him by Bright Mac, “what is it?” He simply asked.

Bright Mac gasped and lightly punched his shoulder, “you ain’t never had a hayburger?! Heck, you really haven’t learned much about Equestria, huh?”

Jung-ho shook his head, “all I knew is that you’re technicolor Equestrians with funny names. From what I’ve overheard from the females my age is that they’re not allowed to learn much. Rumor is in Vietrot the Changelings on Chrysalis’s side are killing off teachers who say too much.”

Burnt Oak winced as the disguised Changeling described this, “geez, those guys don’t sound like the most pleasant creatures to be around.”

“You’re not wrong, Chrysalis was disgraced for a reason. She’s not even supposed to be a Queen, some say she’s actually from Vietrot but we don’t know for sure.”

He picked up the hayburger and asked, “so anyways, you guys eat hay? That’s a little strange.” Bright Mac cocked an eyebrow, “you don’t?”

Hesitantly, he took a small bite of it, it actually didn’t taste that bad. It was kind of good, so he continued to eat it with a small smile. “Also, sorry about earlier. I almost gave myself away, but... you have no idea how much it irks us when ponies immediately assume we’re all like Chrysalis and her army.”

Burnt Oak gulped down his bite, questioning, “how does Queen Chrysalis even eat love? I mean, how is that possible, it’s an emotion, not a physical thing.”

“Oh no, all changelings are capable of eating emotions.”

The stallions both stopped mid-bite and stared at him, he rolled his eyes, “it’s disgusting to do it though, uncouth actually. It’s only a last resort thing if a Changeling’s on the verge of death, if it occurs outside that type of situation it depends so that they’ll have a proper punishment.”

He tried the hay fries and thankfully wasn’t disappointed, then took a polite sip of his soda. If you were wondering how they got this food then the answer is simple, turns out the cooks that were on the zeppelin with them were more than happy to cook for them. Bright Mac had ordered for them what seemed like the most stereotypical Equestrian dish.

Hayburgers, hay fries, sodas, and some daisys as a treat. Curse herbivores and their stupidly good food.

“From my memory, slow slicing was the common execution for Changelings trying to absorb love from members of the Royal Family or sometimes even Noble-Changelings. When it was towards other commoners it was simply a hanging or at worst dismemberment.”

Not noticing that the two seemed to not be in the mood for eating anymore (thanks to what he explained), he popped the last few of his hay fries in his mouth. “You know, this would taste even better with some pork,” he commented as he finished his hayburger.

Bright Mac cringed as he heard this, trying to ignore it as he asked, “so remember how you told us how funny our names are, can we ask you about yours? Do they have meanings or are they just names?”

Jung-ho smiled at this, “most of the time yes, my name means good and correct. Our last names also depend on our family, which seems pretty obvious.”

“I thought that all Changelings have bug-like names,” Burnt admitted with a sheepish look.

“They’re not our birth names, those are the second names we’re given as teens. Mine is...” he paused, flushing red as he thought about his namesake. Then again, they had no way of knowing who he was so... “Mothball, but don’t ever call me that. Please.”

Bright Mac shrugged, “no problem, ‘James’.”

James, the name weirdly suited him. Or at least he believed so, it was much better than his second name would ever be to him. Perhaps he might stick with it from now on, it was better than suffering with his second one.

“What do you guys plan on doing once this war is done?” James asked.

Burnt lightly punched Bright’s shoulder, “he has a wife at home waiting for him, me on the other hoof, I have my old man’s business I need to take over.”

James giggled, “you’re married? What’s that like in Equestria, is it easier than how it is for us?” Bright had a goofy smile as he thought of his lovely wife, “my Buttercup is the sweetest mare in the world, she and I were usually working together on my ma’s Apple Orchard. Being married is tough sometimes for the both of us but, we work through it.”

“What’s it normally like with your species?” Burnt asked.

James cringed as he admitted, “it’s... no where near as pleasant most of the time. Some Changelings get lucky, those are the rare few who find their partners pleasant. We’re to be engaged at thirteen or fifteen at latest, in order to get engaged males need to be matched to the female that they’re deemed most compatible with.

“When I am to be married, I must be subservient and always ready to please my wife... it’s quite boring really. I’m surprised most of them don’t go crazy when they’re gone for war, and they expect their husbands to stay faithful when they don’t even treat them right! I remember when one soldier by the name of Midge came home to find her husband with another male, they came running out of the house screaming and crying in the middle of the night. And that’s just what commonly happens in my village, I don’t even know what goes on in the higher class side of the country!”

He ended his rant by slamming his hoof rather loudly on the table, catching the attention of a few other soldiers, who he glared daggers at until they looked away. “Well... you weren’t wrong about it not being pleasant,” Bright said after an awkward moment of silence between the three.

“It’s just... I-I wish...” James paused as he tried to think, what did he really want?

He suddenly remembered the split-second kiss between him and Cricket, his heart ached at the thought of it. “I have someone in mind that I want to marry but... I can’t ever have him.”

“Why not?” They both asked, looking intrigued.

“It’s against ancient law for males to marry one another, it’s legal for females.”

Giving him a sympathetic look, Bright Mac rubbed his shoulder, “it’ll be alright, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

James looked over the edge of the zeppelin, seeing nothing but lush green fields and a humble little village.

“I hope so.”

The soldiers stepped off the zeppelin, practically being surrounded by Changelings with green manes who were speaking rapidly to them in Thaydonese.

James couldn’t help but notice that there wasn’t any female Changelings, not counting the elderly or sickly looking ones. That most likely meant that the daughters and mothers were sent to fight against Chrysalis already, leaving all the males and nymphs behind.

The General raised his hoof up to shush them, then he asked, “does any creature here speak Equinish?”

The Changelings gave each other confused looks, some shaking their heads or shrugging. James took in a deep breath as he said, “I know some Thaydonese, but I will see if they speak anything else,” the General nodded and stepped out of his way.

James shyly walked up to a male changeling, who had a grub in his saddlebag, it was staring intently at him. “ 你会说方尼斯吗?” He asked nervously, praying for him to understand.

‘Do you speak Fangnese?’

The Changeling took a moment to understand before nodding with a smile. James let out a breath of relief, beginning to explain as briefly as he could in Fangnese, “我们在这里帮助你，我们将在你这边战斗，在这场战争期间帮助你。我们马术站在泰多内换生者一边，我们发誓永远不会与暴君克里萨利斯结盟.”

‘We are here to assist you, we shall fight on your side and aid you during this war. We Equestrians are on the side of the Thaydonese Changelings, we swear to never make an alliance to the tyrant Chrysalis.’

He nodded excitedly as he turned to tell the news to the other villagers, all of whom brightened up immediately. They began thanking and even praising the soldiers for being there for them, the General chuckled as he asked James, “did you tell them that none of you are qualified to fight in battle yet?”

“Was I supposed to tell them—“ James was interrupted by a kiss on the cheek by rather pretty farmer, “... you know, I don’t think they need to know that,” he winked at him playfully before saying to the soldiers, “I think we should train here but settle down in the city, I doubt that the villagers would be happy with the idea of us practically taking over their homes.”

One soldier questioned, “a city?” James nodded, “Flygon, it’s the largest city in Vietrot, and besides I’m sure us Equestrians would be better off staying there than here all the time.”

In reality, he didn’t want to disturb the lives of the villagers, they were already scared enough without the female soldiers to protect them.

Then a little nymph came up to James, saying in broken Equinish (though it sounded adorable in it’s high pitched voice), “thank you, we very much grateful you here!” He almost felt inclined to laugh, so most of the villagers lied about not knowing Equinish.

He honestly couldn’t blame them.

Chapter 7: Basic Training

When they entered the city, James knew it would be very different to his village but, he didn’t expect for it to be so... crowded and loud.

Changelings were bustling around corners, talking to each other loudly in Thaydonese. He swore he could even see a couple prostitutes standing outside their brothels, practically sniffing out the Equestrian GI’s.

The practice was looked down upon but it would be quite clever, if they snagged one they could possibly get a one way ticket to Equestria! James could almost admire the workers for their determination, who didn’t want to leave for Equestria?

He glanced behind him to see a prostitute attempting to solicit Bright Mac, who looked incredibly uncomfortable. He could actually overhear an escort saying to another GI, “fifteen dollar each,” and pointing to the stallion and his friend.

“Fifteen each for this shit?!”

Gods have mercy.

James sighed and walked over, telling the worker that was talking to Bright Mac, “sorry, he’s married,” he grabbed Bright’s hoof and tried to dragged him away.

The escort protested with a, “she won’t even know!” But James shushed him and continued to lead Bright Mac away.

“Believe me, you should start getting used to offers like that—“

“Why are there so many out here?!” Bright asked incredulously, looking around them.

James snickered, “simple, there’s a war here that Equestrians are involved in. They’re trying to get out of here while they can, if an Equestrian soldier plans to marry a Changeling, they can go to Equestria once this is done.”

He looked to his other side and cocked an eyebrow, “hey where’s Burnt Oak?” Bright gestured behind them, what James saw made his jaw drop.

Burnt was openly flirting with an equally flustered escort, who was giggling at something he said. James would’ve let them be if they didn’t have somewhere to be, so he walked over and grabbed Burnt’s tail in his mouth, beginning to drag him away.

He looked annoyed at first but gave the escort a goofy smile as he said, “I’ll see you at the club, Odonata!”

Odonata blew him a farewell kiss as he was pulled back into the group. “The club?” James questioned, his friend nodded.

“Yeah! He said it’s called ‘Shangri-La’ or something like that.”

“That basically translates to paradise or utopia, nice to know that they’re using that phrase to describe a brothel.”

Burnt shrugged, “I’m sure it’s not all that bad!” James could only shake his head at him, knowing that Odonata’s kindness could be feigned.

Everyone here is trying to leave.

He then looked towards the General, asking, “where is the base exactly?” His answer was an ‘almost there’, how informative.

Unfortunately he wasn’t being truthful, as it took all of them almost two hours to get there on hoof. It didn’t help that they were being stopped every ten minutes either by a desperate Changeling attempting to bribe them out of a Immigrant Visa, or an escort trying to get their attention (funnily enough, it actually worked with quite a few soldiers).

The base was huge, which really fascinated James. He didn’t know much about Equestrians, and especially not about their military. For a species that builds itself on how peaceful and friendly it is, they built quite the base here.

They were all ordered to set their things away and report back to the General, which they followed obediently.

Unfortunately for James, since he wasn’t originally a soldier of Equestria, he didn’t have the supplies. He looked at the saddlebag he packed about a week ago, his moth plushie was still in it, as well as the rock he picked up days before.

Surely the items you need in the military...

Basic training started, which practically ruined everyone there. Many of the stallions there were out of shape, while James had different reasons for struggling. His real body was never built for intense physical training, even in his disguised state he could still feel the pain.

They were forced to do what felt like thirty push ups in a minute, every time they messed up they’d have to start all over again. Then they were ordered to run a full mile, which took about twenty minutes thanks to James’ side constantly cramping every few seconds.

They were also introduced to their Drill Instructor, who’s name was Hail Storm. He was as loud and brutal as the females DI’s were back in Fanggook, James knew because of the Female Cadets of course.

He walked up to each and everyone of them, either giving them a hard look or outright insulting them. The ones who weren’t yelled at looked relieved, and James figured that he had no reason to be yelled at.

That is until Storm stopped in front of him, asking, “what’s your name, scumbag?” James gulped before saying, “James Bridge, sir!”

He looked him up and down, inhaling sharply as if he already saw something wrong with him. “Where the hell are you from, private?”

James had to think quick, he barely knew a thing about Equestria. That is... until he thought about the place where Changeling immigrants went, Neigh York. That’s the first state that they would see and live in, it seemed like the only answer he could give.

“Neigh York, sir!”

“I should’ve guessed just by looking at you,” Storm commented with a sneer on his face, “looks like we’ve got a queer in my unit, I suggest you fellas don’t sleep without an eye open with this one around.”

It took James a minute to comprehend what he had just been told, after Storm walked away it hit him. “O-oh...” he mumbled to himself, not really knowing how to react.

He wanted to be angry but he couldn’t bring himself to summon the energy to be, he already was exhausted from not only the exercising, but from the fact he was holding his disguise for this long.

They were told the times they would be woken up each morning, which many stallions groaned at. They had to wake up at five am, which James didn’t mind really, he always woke up early to help work on the fields.

After what felt like forever, they were finally sent to sleep. He figured that he would finally get a good night’s rest when Burnt tapped him on the shoulder, whispering, “once the coast is clear, we’re going to sneak off.”

“Where to? Just go to sleep, Oak,” James grumbled.

“Shangri-La, remember? Let’s go, the guys were planning to go anyways. We’re gonna be joining them.”

James glared lightly at him before mumbling, “I’ll go only if you make Mac go too.”

Burnt grinned, “I’ll do just that!”

This was gonna be a long night...

Chapter 8: Shangri-La

Author's Note

A bit of a mature chapter, with both strong language and suggestive lyrics (the song snippet is from the song “The Heat is on in Saigon”).

Also I imagine it sound a bit like this version of the song: https://youtu.be/lciC1a1RvsM

Also there’s a bit of Burnt crushing on Odonata, so that’s pretty great

Chapter 8: Shangri-La

Somewhere in a dingy club, young Changelings, mostly male were getting ready for a performance. Some of them looked excited, others looked nervous as they whispered to one another in Thaydonese.

They were the bar-boys and girls of the club, working under their pimp.

Then one of them with a light green mane asked, “how long do you think they’ll be here?” He was answered by a younger female Changeling with a short mane, “who knows Odonata, let’s just hope the war doesn’t reach Flygon.”

“It’ll fall the moment they reach us!” A slightly older male exclaimed, tugging at his long mane. “Junebug calm down, for Sol’s sake,” the eldest of the bunch grumbled.

“Oh, I’m sorry Danh, just because you’re the most attractive doesn’t mean you’ll get out of here first!” Junebug snapped.

Danh rolled his eyes, “Bluet isn’t even panicking,” he gestured towards the younger female, “just focus on our performance and pray to Concupisco or at least Hedon that they like us.”

The flimsy door of the dressing room was slammed open, startling everyone inside. Stepping in was a tall and lanky female, her cobwebby mane was lime green, and her eyes weren’t like the others. She had pupils that were pony-like, meaning she was a hybrid.

“I’ve spread the word, boys and girls! Tonight one of you will be Miss or Prince Flygon,” she declared, her accent was different than theirs, it had a Prench hint to it.

“What will we do once they leave?” A young male with his mane in a ponytail asked, being barked at in response by the pimp, “shut up and get ready, Mazarine!”

She clapped her hooves together as she began saying, “alright let’s review our goal, once one of you snags a GI, you’re to get me a Visa card as soon as possible. Just trust your Mistress alright you...” she paused as her ear twitched, “son of a bitch, I think they’re here already!”

The workers were about to ask more questions when she remembered something, “oh right, one more thing. We have a new boy, get your ass over here, Lacewing.”

A small male walked into the room with his head down, he looked embarrassed to be there and extremely young at that. “He’s from one of the villages, never been touched. So he may score first, unlike the rest of you maggots,” she sneered.

“Help him get ready, I will do as a Hostess does and greet them!” The Mistress ordered as she left the room.

Danh glared at the boy, taking a step towards him as he snapped, “I’d give that virgin act a rest! We all know what she means by that,” the other workers caught wind of what he meant and they cackled.

“You are my first Equestrian!” They all mocked, some of them saying it in an exaggerated moan.

Lacewing looked like he was about to cry but he kept face, instead of fiddling with his ao dai. The Mistress stuck her head in as she asked, “what’s taking you all so long?! And you, out of that dress.”

She raised an eyebrow as he looked down shyly before an idea struck her. “Hang on... you are my new Prince!” She exclaimed.

The workers didn’t sound pleased to hear this, so they swore towards the boy.

“What, Prince?!”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

She elaborated, “you see, a virgin will give them a treat. Just play innocent and stay sweet, alright mon jeune garçon!” She used her magic to slip the pants off his back legs, leaving them exposed under the skirt.

He flushed bright green, as even he knew he now resembled one of the concubines from the Royal families. Danh seemed particularly bothered by this, rolling his eyes as he grumbled, “he’s not even that good looking...”

The Mistress was about to head out as she said, “they’ll pay the moon for fresh meat.”

Danh jeered, “fresh is only fresh once, you’re not special little Lacewing!” The young boy sighed and didn’t say a word, pulling his mane out of its bun to hide his face.

They were all yelled at to get out of the dressing room, being told to not make their performance or song too long. They had business to attend to for her, so she’ll be damned if they miss their chance at getting her out of here.

“I can’t believe I let you guys drag me here...” Bright Mac grumbled, looking ashamed as they sat down.

Burnt Oak shrugged, “Hey, free drinks for Equestrians, so there’s that.”

James rolled his eyes at them, he was already uncomfortable with being here. He knew that the Changelings who worked in this field were desperate and usually young, so this was going to be awkward for him.

Turns out, he was right about feeling awkward. Since as soon as ‘The Mistress’ stepped out, he felt sick when he saw the workers enter the bar when she announced, “welcome to Shangri-La!”

They were dressed rather queerly, which only made him more uncomfortable. The bar-girls wore colorful bikini tops and bottoms, which he very rarely saw now that he thought of it. The boys wore stockings and chokers, the material looked cheap but then again, that’s not what customers cared about.

One of them, however, caught his eye, which startled him. He was a rather small yet older male, his long bright green mane reached his shoulders and on top of his head was a camo-print cap.

There were also a few female Changeling soldiers there, drooling over the bar-boys which made James cringe. Of course, they were there as well, it couldn’t just be the Equestrian soldiers.

“It’s showtime!” The Mistress called out, about six of the workers got in their places, the capped one got up as well.

“From Fang Phong to the Mekong Delta, may I present, the most beautiful specimens in Flygon?”

She gestured to a long-haired female in a sapphire blue bikini, “Vedalia!”

“See my bikini, it’s just the right size!” She sang, being pushed aside by the youngest girl when her name was called, “Bluet!”

“Don’t you enjoy how it rides my hinds?”

“Mazarine!”

The dark-greened hair male got on his hind legs, “look from behind, it’ll knock out your eyes—“

“Odonata!”

Another male took the attention away from by pointing at his mouth before sticking his tongue out, “I’ll show you, my special trophy of war!” His accent was the thickest, and James could see Burnt melt a bit inside at the sight of him.

He rolled his eyes again.

“Junebug!”

The second to last male unbuttoned the top he had on and threw it to the side, “For an Equestrian I’ll show more!”

Fortunately, they all had very pretty voices, only being more exotic to the Equestrians due to their naturally echoey tone as well as their accents.

Then the one who caught James’ eye earlier was lead to the middle of the room, the Mistress seemed to favor him as she introduced him as, “and you all know him as, ‘The Sex Toy from Neighon’, Monsieur Danh Van Tranh!”

The other workers seemed to be annoyed at the sight of him, others had looks of pure envy on their faces as they saw not only the Changeling soldiers, but Equestrian ones give him more attention.

He smirked mischievously as he pulled a random soldier from his seat, who did not look bothered by this. “If I’m your pin-up, I’ll melt all your brass,” he started in a softer voice, tickling under the GI’s chin, “stuck on your wall with a pin in my ass!” He pulled him closer by the collar of his shirt.

“If you get me, you will travel first class,” he let go to play with his mane in a way that made James freeze in horror, “I’ll show you, we will make magic cheri!”

“If you buy tickets from me, the winner will have him for the night, free of charge!”

That was when James realized that he knew who this ‘Danh’ was, or at least he suspected he knew who he was. The way he looked, his singing style, the fact that he was ‘from Neighon’, hell even right down to his coy behavior... it reminded him of the infamous concubine that was also his father...

Park Seo-jun.

Chapter 9: Danh Van Tranh

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 10: The Morning After

James didn’t remember much about the night before, having burrowing most of it to the back of his mind. The only thing that mattered to him yesterday was that he unintentionally ran into his father, Seo-jun... or his real name Danh.

He woke up about ten or twenty minutes before the necessary time, giving him some time to look around and think. It didn’t help when he could see some of the sleeping prostitutes from the night before in the bunks, only refreshing his unwanted memories from the night before.

And another thing, how did he sleep through all that noise? Thank the Gods he couldn’t hear a thing from the bunks.

He managed to spot something that almost made him snort, Burnt Oak was snuggling with Odonata, who unconsciously nuzzled into the stubble of Oak’s beard.

How sweet.

Maybe he could find his father in the midst of workers here, that is if he could sneak out of training... wait a minute.

He’s a Changeling, he’s perfectly capable of hiding himself! How could he forget such a thing?

These ponies were affecting him more than he thought.

He decided to wait until the designated time arrived before he transformed into something small, a beetle. He’d be undetectable, besides the workers were most likely going to do the same thing once they heard outside noise.

His plan worked out smoothly, as he transformed as soon as the door slammed open by the Drill Instructor. He crawled under his pillow, hearing the groans and curses from his fellow soldiers as they were forced out of the room for training.

Once they were all gone, he could hear the sounds of Changelings turning back into themselves and speaking to each other in hushed voices. He crawled back out and transformed as well, scaring all of the workers.

“A nymph?!” One of them exclaimed, only to get a hoof slapped over their mouth.

Then Danh sat up from the bunk he was in, nonchalantly saying, “oh him? Yeah I talked to him yesterday, which reminds me, didn’t you have something to tell me?”

“U-umm... I can tell you later!” James replied, not wanting such a huge secret revealed to a group of literal sex workers.

A female Changeling questioned, “what are you doing here, little one? This is Equestrian territory, we don’t even belong here.” He recognized her as Vedalia, the one in the blue bikini.

“I’m helping them fight against Chrysalis’s army,” James answered confidently, only to be pulled into a hug by one of the males.

Fatherly instincts he guessed, as the male protested, “but it’s far too dangerous for a nymph like you to be out there, especially as a little boy!” That was Odonata, he could tell by the strong Thaydonese accent.

He tried not to pout, instead he retorted, “but I know what I’m fighting for! And there are girls my age fighting for our side, why can’t I do the same?” The workers seemed to not have an answer to that question, knowing that their society wasn’t the best but, what could they possibly do or say about it?

Odonata cleverly decided to change the subject by asking, “do any of you think you snagged an Equestrian?” There were murmurs and shaking heads, not much luck.

That is until he said with a grin, “well I think I managed to do it!” Everyone gasped and excitedly began asking questions, what was the stallion like, if he treated him right, etc.

He blushed as he admitted, “I really hope this won’t just be a one time thing, I really do like him! He’s the one that goes by ‘Burnt Oak’.”

He squeezed James tightly in his arms as he recounted, “he’s so sweet to me, like how you’re supposed to treat a lover! And besides...” he gestured towards the bed, “he didn’t seem bothered by our differences at all. Isn’t that just amazing?”

James coughed out, “th-that sounds lovely but I can’t breathe!” Odonata let go with a ‘sorry’ and an adorable giggle, “I think we’ve got a chance.”

“How long will the infatuation last though?” Danh cynically asked, making a few of the prostitute’s heads turn in confusion.

Odonata looked offended but let Danh explain, “I mean, he literally payed for just the sex. Just as they all payed everyone here for the night, it’s nothing special. Me and you both are always just going to be the ‘Boys of the Night’, it’ll never change.”

“Must you be so cynical, Danh? Let him be happy about this,” a short haired female said, it was Bluet.

“And besides...” Odonata mumbled, “he told me himself that he didn’t want us to be just a fling, I think he likes me...”

Danh rolled his eyes, “yeah you ‘think’, that’s the problem. What if he’s just saying that to get you back in his bed—“

“Danh stop being such a prick, let him be happy about this!” a long haired male snapped, that was Junebug.

“I’m just being honest! You all know it’s true, I’ve never had someone who wanted me beyond just sleeping with me!”

“That’s because you have no redeeming qualities beyond just being a slut!”

“Oookay, that’s enough from you two,” Vedalia said as she separated the two, “they might hear us—“

And like it was fate, the door slammed open and standing there was Drill Instructor Hail Storm, who was shouting, “where in Tartarus is Bridge?!”The Changelings all screamed from shock and transformed into random objects out of fear, James transformed into his disguise without thinking.

He had unknowingly revealed his true self to the one pony who could ruin his plans of helping.

“So would you like to explain yourself?” Hail Storm asked with an unamused expression.

They were both sitting in his office, the prostitutes were all sitting on the ground and looking down in shame. “I-I... you see-umm...” James stammered, not knowing where to start.

Danh looked up at him and thought of something, “you know sir, I would gladly offer my services if you let all of us go free! But he has to stay as well,” he suggested.

Storm cocked an eyebrow, “you really think I’ll take favors for something like this?”

“Well, see this as a one time opportunity. You spend most of your time on base and you won’t ever get the chance to get... you know...” Danh kept talking, looking to his fellow workers who nodded in agreement.

Mostly because they wanted to get the hell out of there.

James wished he could be grateful for Danh trying to help but, he was extremely uncomfortable with hearing his father talk about this. “I really want to stay, sir! I swear that I’ll fight alongside you ponies, I just want to help,” James pleaded.

Hail sighed and looked to the workers, “you all can go, I need to speak with him in private.” They all immediately ran out while giggling to each other, probably out of relief that they weren’t punished.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t believe your a spy for Queen Chrysalis’s army,” he ordered.

“First of all, can you all stop referring to her as ‘Queen’, she never has and never will deserve that title,” James complained before continuing, “second of all, if I was really a part of her army would I really be here talking to you? I would’ve ran the moment I got the chance, we can turn into anything so I could’ve fled in the shape of a fly and you wouldn’t even have noticed.”

Hail seemed to consider this as he tapped his chin, then he questioned, “how did you even get here in the first place, and how long have you been with us?”

“Oh that. Well you see, when you were all going through my country Fanggook, I ran into two of your soldiers. They let me come with you guys after they gave me someone to disguise myself as, James Bridge, a ‘draft-dodger’ as they told me.”

The Drill Instructor listened and seemed to think about this, as he muttered, “you have also been giving us helpful tips about your species so...” he finally decided, “I guess for now you can stay and work with us, but you’ll be working just as hard as everyone here.”

James grinned as he nodded, “will do, sir! I won’t let you down!”

“I sure hope you don’t.”

Author's Note

I might list out the Gods and Goddesses that they worship at some point on my blog

Chapter 11: One Year Later

James couldn’t believe how fast time could pass, it had already been a year but it felt like just yesterday he was in Fanggook, farming rice with his adoptive father. Looking back on it, he still wasn’t sure if he regretted leaving, he had made actual friends here and even met his real father... who he hadn’t seen for months.

Danh still didn’t know who he was to James, but as he thought of it, did it really matter? He wasn’t there for him in the first place so he didn’t need to know of their relation, it would put him at more risk of being discovered by Queen Ambrosia.

For now he was satisfied with eating food with his best friends, Bright Mac and Burnt Oak, the latter having Odonata next to him. Bright Mac on the other hoof had a very pretty mare with a pale gamboge coat and an orange mane, her eyes were a brilliant shade of turquoise.

She was Bright Mac’s wife, Pear Butter, or Buttercup as everyone called her. Well James personally called her ‘Unnie’, meaning older sister in Fangrean.

She in return called him bumblebee, since he had a bad habit of buzzing when excited.

“You would not believe just how hard it was to get here, Granny Smith said she’d rather cut her right leg off than let me come out here. Even when I told her I’m just here as a nurse,” she giggled before pecking Bright Mac’s cheek, “thankfully she was more than willing to watch little Big Macintosh.”

James honestly adored her, she was so sweet and always had such a positive attitude. It was no wonder why Bright had fallen head over hooves in love in her so fast, he even envied it sometimes.

Woah! Where did that thought come from?

“You okay there James?” Pear asked with a concerned look.

He nodded, “yeah I’m fine, just blanked out for a bit.”

Odonata smiled at him before asking, “what did you order James?” Thank the Gods he was able to eat meat without the chance of getting strange looks from his fellow soldiers.

If you’re wondering why that’s the case, it was because he was now able to roam around without his disguise, which was relaxing due to how hard it was for him to hold that form everyday. He still used the name ‘James Bridge’ due to how comfortable he was with it, he loved being called James, it suited him.

“I ordered bún riêu,” he answered as he took a bite of it, savoring the sour flavor of the dish.

“Ooh! That has crab in it, right?” Odonata said as he leaned over, being given a small piece to have.

James nodded, “mhm, what did you get?” Odonata looked disappointed as he looked at what he ordered, “now I wish I got the same thing as you, it’s good but still!” He whined.

He managed to see what was on Odonata’s plate, he recognized it as gỏi cuốn, spring rolls basically. “Don’t be sad about it, oppa,” he teased, using the Fangrean term for ‘older brother’.

“Don’t you call me that you little weirdo,” Odonata grumbled as he took a bite out of one of his spring rolls. “I’m actually trying to be healthy, for personal reasons.”

Burnt Oak chucked deeply, “darlin’ you’re already beautiful, I don’t know what you’re going on about.” His lover pouted his lip at him, saying, “reasons, Oakie, reasons!”

Pear giggled as she watched this exchange, then turned to ask James, “what was basic training like for you guys? I heard that you were one of best in your unit.”

The Changeling blushed as he mumbled, “it was nothing really...”

“Ain’t nothing? Heck James, the first day of basic training you could barely do a push up. Now you can keep up with the General, that’s an accomplishment in itself!” Bright Mac exclaimed.

James rolled his eyes, “but I think he sees me more as an advisor than a soldier, just yesterday he asked me if calling Changelings ‘bug-like’ is offensive.”

“Hey now that I think about it, whatever happened to those stallions who offered those rifles to the Mistress?” Odonata suddenly remembered, tapping his chin.

James snorted, “they got chewed out by the DI, I heard he even forced them to get them back the day he found out. All that for a night with Danh, who I honestly haven’t seen in awhile.”

Odonata waved him off, “he’s fine, I’m sure of it. Ever since I quit working at Shangri-La, I haven’t been seeing him... I think he was jealous of the fact I was able to leave, thanks to this one over here,” he poked Burnt’s cheek, who blushed with a soft smile.

Then he frowned, thinking of something else, “though it is a shame that I haven’t been able to see my family in awhile.”

“Why’s that?” Pear questioned before she sipped some of her sugarcane juice. “Turns out, my father wasn’t too pleased to learn I was working as a prostitute, even though I quit months ago! He basically told me ‘if your mother knew of this, she would have me disown you immediately!’” He changed the tone of his voice to sound high pitched and whiny as he mocked his fathers words.

She then suggested, “I’m sure he’s just concerned, you should try to reach out again. Does he know about you and Burnt Oak?” Odonata bit his cheek, not really wanting to answer the question.

“He doesn’t know?” Bright Mac realized, “he’s gonna find out at some point, wouldn’t you rather tell him yourself than let him find out later?”

Odonata shrugged, setting his spring roll down as he mumbled, “I think I lost my appetite.”

Burnt Oak kissed the top of his head as he said, “I think we’ll head out now, it was good seeing ya Buttercup.” He lead Odonata away, who looked a little sick on their way out.

“Is he alright, bumblebee?” Pear whispered to James, who shrugged, “I don’t know unnie.”

James was sent on an errand by the General himself, further proving the fact he was just an ‘advisor’ at this point. He was sent to go to the first Vietrot village that they ever visited, it was rather peaceful when he first went there, so he hoped it would be the same now.

The fields were still beautifully green, it made him long for the old days when he was still in Fanggook. But he didn’t have much time to think about that, he had to make it to the Elders of the village to deliver this message.

After what felt like maybe thirty minutes, he made it to the small village. He saw young nymphs running through the fields, playing with the cattle that were walking through the rice plants and screaming bloody murder.

James didn’t know if that made him want to have children or not, but when he saw one of their fathers shouting for them to quiet down, he laughed to himself. Maybe it would be worth it in the future, but he didn’t have to think of that now.

“Ah, James!” An elderly male greeted in Thaydonese, startling James out of his thoughts.

Fortunately, over the year James had managed to pick up Thaydonese.

“Oh, hello Silverfish!” James greeted back with a kind smile. Then he pulled a letter out of his saddlebag, “the General wanted me to deliver this to you, I haven’t read it myself.”

The Elder took it and skimmed it, making the comment of, “his Thaydonese is terrible but he’s trying,” James snickered at this, “from what I can gather from this is that he wants us to evacuate the village.”

“Huh, why?”

“Apparently he’s worried that Chrysalis’s army might come our way, so he’s offering us a place to stay in Flygon...” the elderly Changeling didn’t look happy as he explained this.

James tilted his head, “isn’t that a good thing, you’ll be protected there?”

“But I’m not going to have much luck convincing everyone here to go, we would rather die on our land than abandon it.”

“But you won’t be abandoning it, see it as a vacation from working!” James protested.

“Look how about this, I’ll speak with the other Elders and see what they want to do about this. I can’t speak for them, but I’m just warning you that it might just be our final decision to simply stay here.”

James could only nod in understanding, saying, “thank you for your time, Silverfish.”

As he walked away from the Elder, he grumbled to himself, “well that was a waste of time...” he walked down a path to leave, deciding that once he got back to Flygon he was going to order himself a bánh da lợn as a reward for this useless trip.

He yelped suddenly as he was tripped, when he hit the ground he heard a high pitched voice that certainly didn’t belong to a Changeling, and wasn’t speaking any language that he recognized, “¡Hola desconocido! Creo que eres muy guapo, ¿eres una modelo famosa?”

He slowly turned his head to see a tiny filly with a pale green coat, big teal eyes, and a long raven-black mane. She looked about five, which was obvious when she gave him a toothy grin to reveal a missing tooth.

He couldn’t respond with anything else but a, “wh-what are you?!” She giggled as she answered in her language, “¡Mi nombre es Liliana Rivera y me gustas!”

Author's Note

Time to bring in a big character wooo

Chapter 12: Liliana Rivera

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying!” James exclaimed, grabbing the filly by the shoulders and lightly shaking her.

She blinked a few times before saying in an accented voice, “oh! You don’t speak Cabalish?” He slowly shook his head as he got a better look her, noticing that she was a little taller than foals her age and maybe a bit lankier on the legs.

“What’s your name, stranger?” She repeated her earlier question, this time in Equinish.

“James Bridges.”

She let out a gasp, “you do sound like a model!” Then she clapped her little hooves together. “Excuse me?” He cracked out as she hugged his leg, squealing, “I like you!”

He then stammered out an, “o-oookay? Where are your parents?” She shrugged and said, “they told me to play in the fields! I think mama and papa are busy, cuz they didn’t want to play with me.”

James sighed and tried to take his leg back but she didn’t let go, seeming determined to stick with him like glue. He tried shaking her off, which only made her tighten her grip, she was surprisingly strong for someone so small.

He sighed, “you’re not letting go, are you?” She shook her head defiantly, “nope!”

He briefly wondered if he could fly with her attached to him, he fluttered his wings and went up a few inches, deciding that it was safe enough for both of them to go that high. “What do your parents look like?” He asked as he slowly flew towards the village.

“My mama looks like me! But her mane is brown and looks like candy,” she described as she hung on his leg.

“Like candy, huh?” He mindlessly mumbled back as he looked around for another pony in the village.

Then he spotted a mare, who kind of made him cringe at first sight. She looked like the stereotypical Equestrian housewife, with rolls of curls that resembled the swirls of lollipops (Liliana wasn’t wrong about the candy part), and holding it together was a piece of pink fabric.

She looked like she could be really pretty if it wasn’t for the caked on makeup on her face, adding that to the artificial curls in her mane just made it all look so... fake?

Gods strike James down if he ever becomes a househusband and resembles something like that.

“Pardon me, Miss!” He called out, making her face him with a surprised expression.

Then she gasped in horror as she shouted, “Lily! There you are,” she ran to them and snatched her daughter from his leg, giving him a quick “thank you!” Before scolding her daughter.

“Where have you been? I was so worried, I told you to stay in my line of sight!” Her accent was extremely thick, though James couldn’t tell where she was from.

Lily only replied with, “I saw him! Isn’t he pretty, mama?” She pointed her tiny hoof at him, making him blush.

“Yes he’s very pretty, mija,” she tiredly shook her head, “but your father was furious when I told him that I couldn’t find you.”

“Papa angry?” Lily pouted her lip, which was kind of really adorable.

Her mother repeated, “yes papa very angry,” she turned to James, “thank you, mijo, I was very worried for her.”

James shrugged, “it’s alright, she found me first.” Before she could say anything else to him, an angry looking stallion stepped into view, snatching the little filly out of her mothers hooves.

He had a white coat and a poofy raven-black mane, his eyes were silver, James knew who he was. Sergeant Rivera, one of the assholes he knew back at the base.

That most likely meant that his wife was here as a nurse, just like Pear Butter. It didn’t explain why he was foolish enough to bring his daughter, perhaps it reflected on his idiocy... Gods James hated him.

He shouted, “where the hell have you been?!” Lily whimpered and uttered, “lo siento, papa...”

James was about to fly away, not wanting to get involved in whatever this was. But when he saw the Sergeant growl in annoyance before slapping the poor girl across the face, he knew he couldn’t leave.

Lily fell to the ground, sobbing loudly for her mother, who looked too afraid to move.

James hissed at him, “what the hell is wrong with you, Rivera?! She’s just a little kid!”

The stallion took a second to recognize him before saying in a bored tone, “oh it’s the maggot of our unit, stay out of this Corporal Bridge.”

“No! You can’t just do that to your own child, that’s horrible, abuse even!” James retorted, wanting nothing more than to punch his superior in the face.

“Like your own parents didn’t beat the shit out of you either,” Rivera barked back, seeing the way James seemed to shrink at his words.

Netwing would never hit him but Stonefly on the other hoof...

The Changeling was about to use whatever magic he had to blast him in the face before the mother cried out, “please! It’s alright, we can resolve this. Just go back to the base, we’re okay!”

“Exactly, mind your business, Corporal Maggot,” Rivera sneered as he used his height to his advantage, towering over the young teen.

James gave the filly one last empathetic look before flying away as fast as he could, he was no where near as physically strong as Rivera, the most he could do right now is report this.

The General favored him so he had to help, this was so wrong!

“I’m sorry, Corporal Bridge, but until this war is officially over, we can’t do anything.”

“What?!”

The General winced as he admitted, “we need everypony we have on our side, we’re short due to not only the draft-dodgers, but the fact that a lot of soldiers are leaving without our knowledge. Besides, it’s not like we can do a proper case with this, we’re not in Equestria and even I don’t even need to ask you if Changeling Law is different.”

James bit his tongue, keeping himself from shouting in rage. He was told by the Inspector General earlier that since they weren’t sure if they were able to do anything as of now, he had to keep himself from saying who he was reporting to the General.

“The most I can do right now is keep him away from his family members as long as possible, perhaps we can have them stay in the barracks that you’re also in,” the General suggested.

“Is that really the most we can do?” James mumbled.

“I hate to say it but as of now, yes,” the General gave him a kind look as he said, “however, I do appreciate you reporting this to the Inspector General, I assure you that once we’re able to, this soldier will be dishonorably discharged by him on sight.”

James got out of his seat and began to walk out of the office, mumbling a half-hearted thanks to the General. He didn’t know if it would help at all, he felt so horrible for the little filly and her mother... they looked so scared.

The most he himself could do for now is send a prayer to the Goddess Nati and hope for the best, he needed to help protect that poor filly.

“What’s that James?” Lily asked, pointing to the moth plush in James’ hooves, which he promptly hid behind his back in embarrassment.

“Nothing!”

She peeked her head over his shoulder, “it don’t look like nothing!” She giggled innocently as she tried to reach for it, but once James flew up a few inches and she knew she was defeated.

Curse her tiny legs!

“It looks like a stuffed animal,” she said as she hopped, not being able to jump that high.

James rolled his eyes, “it’s none of your business, Lily.” She shook her head defiantly, “it is my business, I can see it!”

“You’re the most obnoxious creature I’ve ever met!” James exclaimed as he flew back down, stomping his hoof on the grass.

He still didn’t know how to feel about the General’s order for him, watch over Lily and make sure she doesn’t get hurt. It sounded like an easy job but no, she had to be the most stereotypical five year old he ever met.

Then Lily let out her high pitched gasp, at this point sounding like her favorite thing to do, “you forgot to answer my question earlier!”

James raised an eyebrow, “what question?” Lily rolled her eyes, but in a funny way, she rolled her head to the side as she did it, “if you were a model, duh!”

The Changeling took a moment to understand her question, before answering, “I’m not, why do you say that?” He remembered the beauty standards for his species and had to force himself not to cringe.

Lily replied, “because I think you’re really handsome, but pretty at the same time... hmmm...” she scratched her chin as she mumbled to herself, “which word is better?”

James tiredly said to himself, “Gods help me,” he placed the plush moth in the saddlebag he brought earlier, thankfully she didn’t spot it again as she was deep in thought.

Then she declared without warning, “it’s decided, I’m going to marry you one day!” James froze up, slowly turning his head to look back at the filly, who had ripped a sweet pea flower out of the ground, holding it up to him.

“... sure, kid,” he slowly said as he scratched the back of his neck. Lily hoofed him over the flowers and giggled, “take this as my love,” he held them in a loose grip.

He still wasn’t sure what was happening right now but then again, she’s five, she’ll forget about this in about three hours at most. Still, he couldn’t help but blush when she said, “we should get married in Puerto Caballo or Azteco, and my whole family is gon’ come!”

“Alright Lily, sure we’ll get married in the future,” James told her as he picked her up with his magic, placing her on his back. “But right now you need to be set down for a nap, I have business to attend to with the General—“

“You mean abuelo?” She asked, startling James.

“‘Abuelo’? What do you mean Lily?” There was no way she, this tiny overexcitable filly, knew anything about the General. “Mhm, he’s my Abuelo Fig, he said that he was gonna give me caramel sweets when we got back.”

He realized she was using a Cabalish term for him, so he asked, “what does ‘Abuelo’ mean in Equinish?” She answered with, “grandpa, he’s my mama’s papa.”

“O-oh!” James didn’t know what to think, it even broke his heart a little to know that the General had no idea that his daughter was being abused by her husband.

In order to not feel weird about it, he decided to make small talk as they went towards the base, “where’s your mama from, anyways? You have unique accents.”

“Mama’s from Cubano, but we moved from Puerto Cabello to come here for mama’s new job.”

“She’s a nurse, right?”

“How’d you know that? Wow, you’re really smart... I’m glad I’m marrying you.”

Were fillies really this serious about marriage, James wouldn’t know due to his culture being completely different to hers. “Now Lily, I’m sure you don’t want to marry someone like me,” he honestly replied.

“Why not? You’re nice, handsome, and smart!” She listed.

“Because you barely know me, kid, or what even a romantic partner is like,” James explained as simply as he could.

She sounded confused as she asked, “then what is a romantic partner like?”

James thought the question was simple, but once he opened his mouth, his words dissolved on his tongue. It was an actual question that could make you think, especially since he tried not to think about the topic.

What did he want in a romantic partner?

Did he want to be a docile husband to a strong and confident female? Or would he try and run off with a sweet male... perhaps Cricket... actually, who said that he had to marry a Changeling?

He remembered how sweet a couple Burnt Oak and Odonata were, and they weren’t even the same species!

Then speak of the devil, Burnt Oak was running towards him with a worried expression on his face. Lily greeted him loudly with an ecstatic wave, “hi mister!”

Burnt gave her a kind look before looking back at James, “are you going to be busy for the next few hours?!” He asked desperately.

“Umm... that depends, is it an emergency?”

“It’s not a bad thing, at least I don’t think so, but Odonata said that we should get you to assist us!” He seemed on edge, so James figured that it was more than worth it to help his friend out.

He looked back at Lily, who was still on his back, an asked, “hey Lily, how do you feel about an adventure?”

She responded with a “yay, adventure!” And clapped happily.

“Alright Burnt, take us where we need to go.”

Chapter 13: The Eggs

James found that it was pretty easy to fly while carrying Lily, now that he had her on his back. Which made it easier to follow Burnt Oak into the city, though he wasn’t exactly sure where they were going.

Once Burnt stopped in front of a door to a small home, he figured that this was where Odonata lived. The stallion opened the door and quietly said, “I brought James, he might be able to help,” someone answered in a country accent, “oh thank goodness!”

James could tell instantly that it was Pear Butter, so now he was even more confused as he was lead in. He looked around the small room and immediately noticed what Burnt wanted him to see, it was two small green eggs wrapped in a blanket.

Odonata was laying down next to them, simply staring at them with a warm smile. “So... why’d you bring me here?” James questioned, going over to sit by Odonata after setting Lily down.

She went over to sit by the eggs as well, looking at them with a fascinated look in her eyes, “where did you get them? They’re pretty!” Odonata giggled, “they’re from my belly, sweetheart.”

She gasped, “really?! How did you do that?” The Changeling blushed as he glanced at Burnt Oak, who looked just as confused as Pear Butter (who was rapidly flipping through a book labeled ‘Changeling Reproduction’).

“Umm... magic?” He answered, though it came out sounding like a question.

Pear said to herself, “h-how is this even possible?! You’re fully male, I’ve never seen something like this happen before—“

“Isn’t this normal with you guys too?” James questioned, raising an eyebrow, but Odonata commented, “that’s what I said!”

Burnt Oak shook his head, “no, this is very much not normal! Can you explain this?” He pointed at the eggs, which were then scooped up by Odonata as he quietly cooed to them in Thaydonese.

James rolled his eyes, “I can’t believe this is the emergency you guys called me here for, hand me that book won’t you, unnie?” Pear placed it in his hooves, he held it with his magic as he glanced at the table of contents.

Then he flipped to the page that would explain it and shoved it in Burnt’s direction, “you can read right?” James teased, only to be given a half-hearted glare in return.

Burnt read aloud, “‘the Changeling species is famous for being considered intersex, in a case of emergency (such as war/declining population) or simply out of choice, a male can give birth to eggs just as a female can. While not actually being hermaphrodites (though there have been a few cases), they appear fully as their birth sex, reproduction is an entirely different subject when it comes to genitalia.’”

The two Changelings had amused looks on their faces, so James voiced their shared thoughts, “do you understand our sexual reproduction now? Or does Odie here really need to prove he’s telling the truth by showing himself?”

Then Lily piped up, “show what?” James flushed bright green, he had forgotten the filly was with them, she had been so quiet.

“Nothing kid,” he grumbled, swearing that he could hear Odonata stifle his giggles.

Pear gave James a strange look, “why didn’t you ever mention this to us? It’s kind of a big difference between our species.”

“No one ever asked,” James answered.

She looked at Burnt, then at Odonata, realizing, “so that means that those eggs are from...”

Odonata nodded with a sweet smile, “mhm, they’re from me and Oakie.”

“A-are you sure they’re mine?” The stallion blurted out, making Odonata scrunch his nose in confusion.

Then he understood what his lover was suggested, “seriously?”

“I-I mean... darlin’, it hasn’t been that long, how could you have laid them that quickly?” He explained, feeling bad for offending his lover.

James sighed, “you guys really don’t know much about us, it’s been a year Burnt. Anyways, it’s possible because it doesn’t take long at all,” he pointed at Odonata’s stomach, “you see, it only takes three weeks for the egg to develop in there, then it comes out. You’ll just have to wait three months for them to hatch... which reminds me, you have twins!”

His friend frowned, “yeah, now I know I can’t tell my family a thing about this. As my father told me, ‘twins are a curse from the Goddess Carita’, like grubs aren’t always a blessing.”

He kissed the tops of his eggs, cradling them gently in his arms, “I can’t ever see them as bad luck, they’re my grubs and I’m going to raise them the best way I can... that is, if you want to keep your promise Oakie,” he looked up at the stallion, who didn’t seem to understand at first.

“I can’t raise them here, not with the knowledge that Flygon is going to fall. You need to, at the very least, take them to Equestria, even if you don’t bring me,” Odonata said as he looked sadly at his eggs.

Burnt Oak shook his head, whispering, “no no, hun’, it’s not going to fall. We’ll make sure of it,” he caressed Odonata’s cheek with his hoof, “and what makes you think I won’t bring you to Equestria with me?”

“Because I know better,” Odonata mumbled as he laid the eggs back down, it hurt James to know that he wasn’t wrong.

So many Changelings were going to be left behind, either by lovers, friends, or even their own family once they got the chance. They couldn’t trust the Equestrians but at the same time, they were their only chance to get out of the country before Chrysalis invaded it.

“She won’t win, she can’t,” Pear tried to console him, but Odonata shook his head.

“It’s useless going against her, so many Changelings are switching sides for one of two reasons. Either they’re afraid to go against her, or they’re smart enough to know that joining her is the best option.”

The ponies looked confused, “but we thought you all hated her?” Burnt Oak questioned. “We do hate her, but that doesn’t mean she’s a bad leader. She cares about her subjects, even though she’s subjecting them to a terrible way of living,” James explained as he shrugged.

He then looked at Odonata, saying, “I really wish I could stay longer but I need to go, the General wanted me to assist him with some business. That means you’re leaving too, Lily,” he looked down at the filly, who was observing the eggs.

“Do we have to?” She whined, “I wanna stay longer, the eggies are pretty!”

“Sorry Lily, but your grandfather is probably wondering where you are. I’m probably going to get chewed out for being late,” James grumbled.

Burnt laughed as he wrapped an arm around Odonata, pulling him close to him, “James the most you’re gonna get is a slap on the wrist, the old guy sees you as his son at this point!”

The teenager glared at him, “he does not!” It didn’t help when Pear added, “from what Bright Mac tells me, he really does.”

“The traitor!” James pouted.

Lily snickered at his expression, then she squealed when he picked her up with his magic, placing her on his back once again. “I’ll see you all later, who knows how long this errand will take me... especially since I’m bringing this one along,”

Odonata offered, “she can come see the grubs when they hatch, it’ll happen in three months after all.”

The filly eagerly agreed, “that sounds fun!” She then waved goodbye to them.

James then kindly bid them farewell, leaving the home with a smile on his face.

It would never not please him to see his friends, they really were becoming part of his life. Hopefully they’ll stay a part of it for a long time, he couldn’t imagining losing them. Bright Mac, Odonata, Burnt Oak, and Pear Butter, they felt like family to him.

“Hey James,” Lily said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Yes Lily?”

She yawned before nuzzling her face into his mane, “when we get married, are you going to lay eggs too?”

He stopped dead in his tracks, blushing fiercely as he shouted, “LILY!”

“Just asking!”

Chapter 14: A Message from Chrysalis

James came into the General’s office, not knowing what to expect from him. Was it an emergency that he missed and now he was being kicked out, or was it as small as the General wondering how to say a word in Thaydonese.

It didn’t help when Lily hopped off his back and screeched, “Abuelo!” Running towards her grandfather, who had a conflicted look on his face.

He sat down in front of him, saying, “did something bad happen? You don’t look too well.” The General seemed hesitant as he slid a piece of paper in front of him, James could see that it was in Thaydonese (thank the Gods he learned the language).

‘To the Equestrians,

I advice that your military surrender peacefully, as my army has liberated all the villages of Vietrot from the pathetic reign of Femina. They’ve even sworn loyalty to my side, vowing to kill any Equestrian who crosses our path. You cannot defeat us, there is no chance, I will never let you win.

You Equestrians treat our proud species as a plaything, then you toss us to the side once you get bored of us. I won’t ever subject my subjects to the same treatment, you should be disgusted with yourselves for how you see us.

The rest of this letter is dedicated to my future subjects, so please make sure this reaches them.

Read and understand citizens of Flygon, your city will fall and all of you will be left behind by the Equestrians. The ones who claim they’ll bring you to Equestria are lying, no creature could ever love a Changeling in their real form. You must not be manipulated by their pretty lies, you deserve to be in the society I am creating and spreading around our territory.

Think of it, males and females are treated as equals. Nymphs of all genders are allowed to go to school and serve their community, no one is discriminated against for the things that even we Changelings cannot change.

No longer will your sons be forced to work in prostitution at young ages, selling themselves to foreign creatures on the street for money. They’ll instead be seen as equal to females, as they should’ve been since the day they were born.

That can all happen in an instant, but only if you swear loyalty to my side, and I’ll protect you all. The Equestrians don’t care enough to shield you away from the war, they’re the ones who are bringing the war to you by not surrendering.

And my dearest subjects, remember this, they’ve destroyed our homes before, who’s to say they won’t do it again?

Sincerely,
Your Future Queen, Bian Thi Le’

James gritted his teeth as he read it over and over again, how could she be so confident? She used her actual birth name as if to show just how comfortable she was with this... declaration of hers.

“How dare she...” James growled, his horn sparking a bit in rage.

The General sighed and mumbled, “I was worried this would happen, the villagers have turned against us. Whether it was out of fear or choice, they must be considered our enemies now too.”

“Those traitorous bastards!” The Changelings shouted slamming his hoof down on the desk, “we offered them protection! A home here in Flygon and what do they do instead?! Side with the Devil’s Mistress because they’re all too cowardly to fight for themselves!”

Lily whimpered in fear as she watched her crush rant angrily, but felt better once her grandfather affectionately stroked her mane. “James please, calm down. Besides, I’m positive I know the exact reason why they sided with her instead of us,” General Fig said as he helped Lily into his lap, who seemed to be interested in the sweets that were kept in a small glass jar on the table.

“The reason being?” James grumbled, crossing his arms in annoyance.

“She must have promised to protect their land, or at the very least they don’t have to leave it to be on her side,” General Fig explained with a solemn expression.

James then remembered what he was told by Silverfish, ’we would rather die on our land than abandon it.’

Looks like they weren’t kidding, Gods why did they have to be so attached to it! Perhaps if James had set up a ‘sign’ from the God Brucus, telling them to leave, they would’ve left their land.

But then again, James didn’t feel like facing the possibility of being cursed by the Gods. So not doing that was probably the best thing he could’ve done, no harm done there.

“But every village,” James said in disbelief, looking back at the letter, “how in the hell could she have done that?”

General Fig answered, “do I need to remind you how large her army is? Especially now that she’s recruited all of them.”

“No need to, sir...” James mumbled, thinking back to when they first came to Vietrot.

They weren’t welcomed here in the first place, that was obvious as soon as he found out they lied about not knowing Equinish, they were scared of the Equestrians. He had believed that him being part of their military would help out with that, which was proven wrong on multiple occasions.

General Fig grabbed the jar of candy, opening it before handing it to Lily, who squealed in happiness.” He smiled softly at his granddaughter, saying, “we can only pray that we win this war, for our families and even our friends.”

“We don’t even pray to the same Gods,” James said as he rolled his eyes, though still silently made a note to offer something to the God Laurus.

Looks like he was burning laurel leaves for the next few hours, sounds fun...

“That doesn’t matter, James,” General Fig lightly scolded, “that gives us hope to finish this war without too much tragedy.”

The Corporal didn’t know how to respond, he genuinely didn’t have much hope for their side. He was very well aware that Flygon was going to fall, it was going to be destroyed and there was a chance that he was going to be left behind as well.

Not many of the soldiers were fond enough of him to bring him along. The Changelings that were left behind were going to be one of two things, shot on sight or forcibly recruited into Chrysalis’s army.

What she was promising was far too good to be true, there was no way it would be that easy. Which reminded him, “are we going to send that letter to Flygon, or will this stay quiet, sir?”

“I haven’t decided yet, it might be worse to not share it and have them find out there was a warning,” General Fig said, looking back down at the letter.

James sighed and muttered, “alright sir, I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone.” Then he left the room, hearing Lily shout, “bye bye, James!”

He had a lot on his mind now, what was he supposed to do?

The letter from Chrysalis was engraved in his mind, as if he memorized every single word. The worst part was, he felt a flicker of hope in his heart when he first read it! That there was a possibility that she cared about what happened to them, that she wanted them to be happier under her rule instead of being miserable and working on the streets.

It scared him.

Gods forbid any other Changeling got ahold of that message, the war would be lost in an instant as soon as the word spread...

Chapter 15: History Repeats Itself

Odonata was curled up next to Burnt Oak, still wallowing in the pleasant afterglow of their... earlier activity. He should’ve been happy, for his genuine relationship, he wasn’t working as a prostitute anymore, he was going to be a father for Gods sake.

But no, there was one thing that kept him from being truly happy. That thing was his father, the old guy was the one who raised him, woke him up with kisses and breakfast every morning when he was little, told him that he was going to do big things one day once he left the village... that clearly didn’t work out.

He thought his father had been right, he believed that he was going to be noticed, that he had something special in him. Nope, once he got to Flygon, he was instantly mistaken for a hooker by a female soldier (that ended up in a mediocre loss of his virginity after being promised a handsome reward).

Odonata was very well aware that he was a disappointment, he tried his best to hide his job from his dad whenever he visited his birth village. He wanted to make him proud, wanted to hear him say, ‘you did well, my son,’ instead of the last thing he was told by him:

‘I raised you better than this, instead of using your blessings from Sophia, you decided to whore yourself out to those disgusting pigs!’

He hadn’t spoken to him since, and that was maybe four or five months ago. Now he knew he could never tell him about his relationship, he wouldn’t understand because he’s so stuck in their outdated traditions and norms!

Burnt told him of what it was like to live in Equestria, you can choose who you want to be with, he could get a job instead of just sitting at home all day, he’ll be seen as an equal!

What a lovely dream that is, and it was going to become his reality was this war was over. Hopefully he’ll still go even if they lose, the chance they had at winning was slim. Gods forbid the village Changelings turned against the Equestrians, the city would fall once that happened.

If only he knew what the outcome of this war would be...

“Sugar, you’re tense,” Burnt mumbled, startling him out of his thoughts.

Odonata blushed, “s-sorry... I have a lot on my mind right now.” His lover smiled softly, “you wanna talk about it?”

He shrugged, making Burnt frown in concern, “is something wrong?”

“Not really, just thinking about... my father,” he sleepily admitted, nuzzling his face into Burnt’s neck.

“Is that what’s been bothering you lately?” The stallion guessed, being answered with a nod.

“Oh hun’, if you want to talk to him you can, I don’t know why you’re so against it.”

“You don’t understand, you ponies are all so happy-go-lucky. Our culture is different from yours, as well as the way parents see their children,” Odonata replied with a scowl.

He sat up, stretching his arms and wings as he did so. Then he looked over at their eggs, which were wrapped in warm blankets just feet away from their shared bed. Their soft green glow illuminated the room, making everything look a little nicer than it actually was.

He then mumbled, “I don’t know what he would think about us, or even our future nymphs...” he touched his chest, feeling it begin to ache.

“Exactly, you don’t know,” Burnt said as he rubbed Odonata’s shoulders, “for all you know, he’ll soften up a little at the idea of being a grandfather.”

“They’re bastards though...” Odonata uttered, hating to say it but it was true, “just for that reason alone, he’ll disown and possibly even shame me in public for it!”

He felt a bit better when he was kissed on the cheek, being told, “it’s always worse in your head than in reality, I’m certain it won’t go as badly as you think.”

“I hope your right,” his horn began to glow softly, and the eggs started to levitate towards their direction, being placed in his arms.

“Although, I don’t see how he could possibly hate such adorable wittle eggs, which will hatch into the most darling grubs,” he cooed towards the eggs, unintentionally making his voice go high pitched.

Burnt Oak snorted from amusement, “darlin’, I don’t think you’re ever gonna give the poor things space once they hatch.”

Then he realized something else, “by the way, what do you think they’ll look like. They’re half pony, after all.” Odonata seemed to freeze at this question, clicking his tongue in thought before answering, “that’s a good question.”

“Has something like this happened before?”

“Not to my knowledge, however... I’d be surprised if none of the prostitutes get pregnant, that’d be concerning.”

Burnt looked down at the eggs, “I just... hope that they’ll be able to develop alright, I’ve never seen a hybrid in my life.”

“Let’s not think about the negatives, let’s think of something else!” Odonata suggested, smiling as he said, “we could start thinking of names, we only have two months left before they hatch.”

“Oh right... names. James brought up how that is in your culture, you have ‘birth’ names and ‘second’ names,” the stallion recalled, remembering how James introduced himself as ‘Jung-ho Park’.

The Changeling nodded, “yep, it’s like that in every kingdom, even I have my birth name.” Burnt, without thinking much, asked, “what is your birth name, anyways?”

Odonata flushed bright green as he stuttered out, “th-that’s very personal information!” His lover looked confused, “... hun’, we’re having kids together, we’ve been personal.”

“R-right... it’s just very... intimate to share such private information. I’m surprised that James even shared it with you guys, then again you ponies wouldn’t understand how important it is,” Odonata explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

He gulped, whispering, “Kim Van Ly, that’s my birth name...”

“Kim Van Ly?” Burnt repeated, making his lover blush before looking away, “that’s what flusters you? For Celestia’s sake Kim, you’re a strange one.”

The Changeling used one hoof to cover his face, the other occupied with holding his eggs, “I told you that you wouldn’t understand!” Burnt chuckled softly before saying, “alright, alright hun’, I’m sorry.”

Then he added, “I’m still gonna call you Kim in private—“

“Don’t you dare!” Kim hissed, his whole face was a bright green color, only making it more humorous for Burnt Oak.

“At least your dad gave you a pretty cute name,” Burnt teased, pecking Kim’s lips.

Kim rolled his eyes, “Silverfish could’ve at least given me a more masculine sounding name! Like my brothers, Giang, Hanh, or even Sinh. I got stuck with the dumb name Kim, it doesn’t even suit me.”

“Yes it does, sweetheart. Oh and about Silverfish, I actually recognize that name.”

“Wait, really?” Kim questioned, looking surprised. “Yeah, he’s from the first village we ever visited, what was it called again?”

“Sơn Mỹ.”

Burnt Oak smiled, “that’s right, I haven’t been there in awhile, no reason to but...” he leaned forward, wrapping a hoof around Kim’s neck, “I’ll gladly accompany you there once you speak to your father.”

“You really don’t have to—“

“I want to be there, for the both of us.”

There was a moment of silence between them, it was rather pleasant, only being broken by a soft, “thank you...”

“It’s really nothing, sugar.”

“I love you!” Kim blurted out, not knowing how else to respond to the sweet sentiment.

The stallion could only laugh, pulling his lover into a sweetly tender kiss, relaxing him instantly. He pulled away only to say, “I love you too, now let’s get some shuteye.”

The Changeling giggled, agreeing as he put the eggs back into their place.

Kim knew that as he was pulled back into Burnt’s embrace, no matter how his father reacted to them, he’d have someone to come home to. And he was more than happy that his special someone would stick by his side, no matter what happens after this whole war is over.

Maybe he wouldn’t be left behind after all...

The door was slammed open, scaring both of them into waking up, Burnt swore loudly while Kim instinctively covered himself with the sheets. They were both prepared to yell at whoever burst into the home before they saw the look of absolute horror on Bright Mac’s face.

“Mac?” Burnt worriedly said.

Kim tilted his head in confusion, but gasped when he saw the bit of blood that was splattered on Bright Mac’s uniform, “a-are you alright?!” He exclaimed, getting off the bed to check on the stallion.

Bright Mac slowly shook his head, uttering, “f-follow me...” then he turned around and walked out of the home.

The lovers looked at each other in concern, silently agreeing to do as their friend said. Kim whispered a prayer to Sol, praying that it wouldn’t be as horrible as he believed.

As they ran to follow Bright Mac, Kim tried his hardest to believe his lover’s words just hours before: “it’s always worse in your head than in reality.”

Words couldn’t even begin to describe the carnage they could see, and they weren’t even that close to the village.

Homes were burned to the ground, screams and pleads for mercy were piercing the air, loud gunfire was heard and the blood... oh Gods the blood.

Kim couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing, it was the village he came from.

“Father!” He cried out, suddenly remembering him as he ran in the direction of his destroyed home.

He ignored the protest from his lover and friend, only having one Changeling on his mind.

He shape-shifted into a bird, in order to be ignored by whoever was attacking and to get there faster. He tried his absolute hardest to ignore the corpses that were on the ground, male Changelings, Nymphs, and maybe even a few grubs.

Finally, he found his family’s home, being terrified of what he saw. It had been burned to the ground just as every other home, but he saw his old father stuck underneath some debris, struggling to move.

He landed next to him, transforming back into himself as he uttered, “p-papa!” His father looked up in horror as he cracked out, obviously in pain, “K-Kim... wh-what are you doing here?! R-run!”

Kim shook his head, desperately trying to help his father out from the debris, but he wasn’t strong enough. Silverfish pleaded for him to leave, to hide at least! But he refused to abandon him, so he ducked whenever he believed he saw someone.

“What’s happening?!” He asked.

“Th-they’ve betrayed us!” Silverfish answered, looking devastated.

Kim was even more confused, “who?!” His father’s eyes were filling with tears, only making him more afraid.

“Those Equestrian scum!”

“What?!”

Another voice yelled out, sounding familiar, “Odonata, look out!” Before Kim could even turn around, an indescribable pain shot through his side.

His vision blurred, and he stumbled to the ground, the last thing he could clearly hear was his father sobbing out, “Kim!”

James watched in horror as his friend crumbled to the ground, being too far away to see if he was still moving. He couldn’t go near him, he was just barely safe being on the Equestrian’s side but even he couldn’t know if he’d get shot.

“Please stop!” He yelled at the soldiers, they ignored him.

“They didn’t do anything, they’re defenseless!” He shouted, but alas, no one listened.

Having no other way to help the villagers, he decided to go towards his unconscious friend. Odonata was laying on his side, having been shot on the opposite side.

James went down next to him, checking his pulse, thank the Gods he felt it. His moment of relief was short lived as he continued to hear the screams of innocent Changelings around him, he squeezed his eyes shut.

He didn’t understand why this was happening, no not why, how? He knew that it had to be because of one reason, the message they received from Chrysalis.

How in the hell did they get ahold of it, both him and General Fig swore to not speak of it.

“James, please!” Silverfish whimpered, appearing to be barely alive, “get him out of here, tell him I love him, just forget about me!” He pleaded.

James almost considered trying to save the Elder as well, but changed his mind as soon as he heard a loud explosion not too far away. “Alright, may Nex have mercy on you,” he replied as he managed to get Odonata onto his back.

He did his best to run with his friend on his back, trying to avoid any soldier that was around, no longer trusting his fellow soldiers.

He really believed that it couldn’t possibly get worse, that was until someone landed right in front of him. It was an extremely tall and lanky female, with large holes in her legs, a long cobwebby blue mane, and a tiny black tiara on her head.

He realized in horror who she was, the very being who made him sick just at the thought of her.

‘Queen’ Chrysalis.

Her expression showed nothing but disappointment and disgust, she looked around the village before ordering for Changelings that were in the air to: “Save every survivor and kill any Equestrian you spot!”

Then she looked down at James, who was trembling in fear. He always pictured himself being victorious over her, wanting to defeat her himself but now... he felt nothing other than fear and dread, he might die today.

She smiled tightly at him, leaning forward to say, “looks like I was correct in my message, history repeats itself.”

Then without warning, she reared her hoof back and struck him across the face, knocking him out instantly.

Chapter 16: The Interrogation

James woke up with a startled gasp, having ice cold water dumped on him. Pain shot through his head, he reached up to feel a disgustingly warm spot... blood. Great he was injured, and he had no idea where he was.

He looked to his side and saw Odonata, being woken up the same way by a strange Changeling, they looked almost... sickly? Hell, James couldn’t even tell what their gender was, is this what happened to Changelings that feasted on love?

Odonata took a moment to stir awake, whimpering softly in pain. Then he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt (they had been put in ao dai dresses), being yanked up into a standing position.

He was shouted at in a strange language, it took James a bit to realize that it was Ancient Changeling Tongue. He managed to understand bits of what was being said: ‘on your hooves, maggot!’, ‘you’re a prisoner under our Queen’s order’, and ‘soon you’ll learn your lesson’.

‘What lesson?’ James thought to himself as the Changeling soldier left them alone in a strange room.

He observed his surroundings, the room was small, cold, and had weird green goop almost everywhere... hang on, he leaned over a sniffed a bit that was close and hissed in disgust. It was mucus, of course her soldiers were disgusting and didn’t try hiding the... embarrassing part of their species.

“J-James?” Odonata uttered, looking absolutely terrified.

He glanced at his friend and asked in an almost monotone voice, “how’s your wound?” Odonata glared in annoyance, “oh it’s just fine and dandy, of course it’s not okay!”

“I’m just asking, we have other things to be worried about,” James replied rather dully as he got on his hooves as well, trying to walk around the room.

There had to be some way to escape, even for Chrysalis’s soldiers in case of emergency. “Why aren’t you concerned?! They’re probably going to kill us!” Odonata shouted, stamping a hoof on the ground.

“I am in fact, scared for my life, however, one of us has to keep a level head in this situation,” James calmly explained as he knocked on walls, checking for hollow ones.

He ignored his friend’s swears in Thaydonese and focused on the problem at hoof, he was taught what to do in these sort of situations. Just keep important information to himself and share useless details that sound valuable, easy.... hopefully.

Odonata was panicking, “what are we going to do?!” He paced around as best as he could with an injured side, “they’re going to come in here, interrogate us like we’re soldiers and then kill us once they deem us useless!”

“Odonata, worse case scenario is that we’ll have to kill ourselves,” James easily explained, clearly not making it easier for his friend.

The older sputtered out, “J-James! For Gods sake can you give me some sort of reassurance?!”

“I just did, I said worse case scenario. It’s likely it won’t come to that point.”

His friend only began hyperventilating, tugging at his mane as he wailed, “we’re going to die!” And curled up into a ball.

James sighed, knowing that Odonata’s screaming might as well get them killed. So he walked over and sat next to him, putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder.

“Odonata, don’t worry. I’m the one who should be panicking, because I actually know military information. Anything you give them will be deemed invaluable information,” James whispered to comfort his friend.

“B-but, but...”

James shushed him, “just calm down, I’ll handle this and you stay quiet unless they ask you a question.”

Odonata nodded in understanding, keeping his head low.

The door opened and two Changeling soldiers came into the room, one of them was holding a clipboard. The other had a bundle of odd supplies on him, including a towel, a bucket of water, as well as a timer in his hoof.

The supplies reminded him of something he was told, but he couldn’t remember what they were used for. Then the one with the clipboard began speaking in Thaydonese, “If you think that you’re going to be tortured, you’d be correct, if you believe that we’ll kill you... you’re half-correct, such a thing will only happen if you don’t cooperate,” he smiled deviously, “so please behave, we just want to ask a few questions.”

James gulped, glancing over at Odonata, who was trembling in fear. He began to feel his own fear crawling throughout his body, he never expected to find himself on the receiving end of a real interrogation... those practice ones he did back then felt like nothing compared to this.

Without thinking he said, “wait! Leave him out of this, he’s just a bar-boy, he has nothing to do with the Equestrians.” Odonata glared at him, having to bite his tongue from saying something like ‘I quit that job!’, but James was desperate to keep him out of it.

“A Bar-boy, hmm? Well we might as well send him off to be questioned with the others we caught,” the Supplies Changeling suggested.

Clipboard Changeling smirked, “you’re absolutely right, Hornet!” Then he called out, “Springtail! We got another one!”

A slim female flew in, picking Odonata up like he was nothing, and dragging him out of the room as he kicked and screamed. James felt bad but he knew that if they realized he was a soldier, they were going to be even worse towards the both of them.

“What is your birth name, boy?” Clipboard Changeling asked, James considered making up a name but then realized, no one even knew who he was!

So he answered with his adoptive father’s surname, “Yang Jung-ho, sir.” Both the soldier’s noses scrunched up, looking very confused as they glanced at each other.

“Where are you from?”

“F-Fanggook, sir,” James answered, flushing green in embarrassment as he knew they didn’t believe him.

Hornet rolled his eyes, “do you really think we’re stupid, Yang?” James shook his head as he explained, “no, no! I don’t, I’m just really mixed!”

“State your parent’s names!”

“U-umm...” james hadn’t been prepared for questions like this, and he barely knew about traditional Thaydonese names!

Then Clipboard Changeling turned to his partner, “just as I suspected, he’s a spy of some sort. Get the punishment ready, won’t you.”

Hornet grinned madly, as if he had been waiting for this opportunity all day. He used his magic to form the disgusting goo that covered the wall to pin James’ back hooves down, this wasn’t good...

James gasped out as he was pinned back, his head being yanked up as a towel was placed over his face, memories flooded back from his first few weeks of training, and he finally understood what the supplies were for: waterboarding.

He finally felt the panic he held back earlier beginning to set in, he heard how torturous waterboarding was, but even he wasn’t prepared for when the bucket poured some of the water on him. He could barely breathe, the soaked towel suddenly felt so heavy on him and his heart rate was going up.

He couldn’t even fight back, as his hooves were pinned down, supposedly by the other Changeling in the room. One thing he learned about Royal Changelings over the year was that they were naturally weaker than the average male, as they were meant to be living extravagant lives in a palace, being pampered by servants, and even being treated like Gods...

Clearly James wasn’t getting that treatment right now.

He could feel some of the water go up his nostrils, he almost starting crying immediately from the terrifying rush of fear he got. His gag reflex was activated and he nearly vomited in his mouth, then the towel was finally removed from his face.

He coughed out violently, his chest burned as he finally got oxygen into his lungs. “Alright now, answer the question, why did Femina send one of her own sons here? Was it to be a spy, or perhaps you’re a runaway.”

James desperately shook his head, “no! You don’t understand, I’m not one of her sons, I’m not even from Vietrot!”

“Then explain yourself,” Hornet hissed.

He knew he had no choice, he didn’t want to go through what he just endured again, “please believe me... I’m an illegitimate child, my father is Danh Van Tranh—“

“The stripper?” Clipboard Changeling questioned, looking surprised.

Hornet looked slightly jealous as he grumbled, “of course you would know that, Nepidae.”

Nepidae rolled his eyes as he placed the tip of his hoof on Hornet’s lips, “you hush,” then he looked back at James, “and your mother?”

James knew he wouldn’t be able to lie, so he honestly answered, “the Neighonese Empress, Tsubaki Mamekagane...” it wasn’t like she didn’t possibly have dozens of illegitimate children... right?

The two soldiers went silent for a moment, then without warning the towel was shoved back onto James’ face, and the rest of the water was slowly poured on him. His screams and sobs were muffled, so the soldiers began to speak to each other in Equinish.

“My love, do you think he’s really telling the truth? Tsubaki was said to be careful with her affairs, even when it came to Seo-jun,” Hornet asked, looking unsure.

Nepidae sighed, “I can’t be sure, but we must report this to the Queen.”

Then Hornet leaned forward to peck his lips, “as you wish, my dear.”

They then both glanced down at the young teenager, who was shaking and sobbing hysterically. Nepidae snorted, as if he found the teen’s terror entertaining, “he’s being a bit of a third wheel right, I say we wrap this up now.”

Hornet giggled before he winked, saying in Thaydonese, “are we finally having private time?” His lover mumbled, “yeah sure, let’s just take this kid outside.”

The towel was removed from James’ face, being thrown to the side as Nepidae began dragging him out of the room. On the way, Hornet continued to flirt with Nepidae, even sneaking in a few dirty phrases that genuinely made James uncomfortable as he heard them be said.

And then finally, James could see daylight again. He thought it would be comforting but his heart sank as he saw what was happening outside, his friend was tied to a wooden pillar, three other bar-boys were tied with him.

The four of them were crying and pleading for mercy, James was confused at first, then he glanced towards the ground, gasping out loud. Their legs were covered in an obviously sweet substance (maybe honey?), because there was an army of ants crawling all over them, biting and eating at their legs.

A tall female and a shorter male were standing on each side of the pillar, swearing at and taunting them in Thaydonese. Then the female lifted Odonata’s chin up, leaning forward to slowly lick up his neck, making him sob even louder as she began kissing under his jaw.

“Oh come on, Grasshopper, give them at least a day or two before you violate them,” the male teased, absolutely disgusting James as he watched this.

He was reminded of Stonefly, which in itself almost made him gag.

Grasshopper stuck her tongue out at him, “you’re no fun, weevil!” Then she called out to another Changeling, who was holding a water hose, “you can spray them off now!”

The four were roughly hosed off, which clearly wasn’t helping them at all. Odonata whimpered as he was untied, being thrown to the ground and being called a ‘me-my’.

James wanted to run towards him, but knew that he’d probably be hit if he tried. So he had to watch Odonata struggle to walk towards him, ignoring the catcalls from several soldiers, from males and females.

He fell into James’ arms, breathing heavily, his voice was raspy from all his screaming. Then he looked up at James, uttering in a weak voice, “w-we’re going to be rescued... r-right?”

The teenager’s lip quivered, thinking about the massacre he witnessed not too long ago. His fellow soldiers had completely turned against his own species, and because of this, he only had one answer.

“I... I don’t know.”

Chapter 17: Chrysalis and Mantis

Queen Chrysalis, some would call her a dictator, others call her their savior.

She would personally refer to herself as a controversial leader, she was simply reaching for what was right in her eyes! There were reasons for Changelings to hate her, and she understood that, Queen Celestia had her critics.

Every great leader has their critics...

Chrysalis however, was a strange case for her species. Her background was kept hidden from everyone, even her own subjects didn’t know where she came from. She preferred it that way, being more mysterious than understood.

Her society was equal, everyone had an equal chance at succeeding, everyone was to be treated with decency... although there were a few incidents that not even Chrysalis could prevent. She was beloved and practically worshipped by her followers, who were affectionately nicknamed the ‘Renegade Changelings’ by outsiders.

She prided herself on being an excellent caretaker for her children, and the Changelings that weren’t even birthed by her were treated with the same amount of love and care. Sure they were hungry most of the time but she was doing her absolute best, proving a point if you will.

Traditions in her home country were idiotic, sexist, and demeaning to everyone involved, especially the poor males who were being raised to be sexual objects for their wive’s pleasure. Damn their religion, it could get a Changeling killed if they said they didn’t believe in it.

She ripped every part of their culture away from them, in order to protect her subjects from being hurt by it. They were forbidden from eating the food of any Changeling culture, wearing traditional clothing of any kind was enough to get rocks thrown at you (not that she condoned this), and speaking any of the languages was a serious taboo.

‘I’m doing this for their own good,’ is what she would always tell herself, and she genuinely believed it.

Now here she was, curled up in bed next to her Army’s General. How did she get here, you ask? Well after a few glasses of Rượu cần (courtesy of General Mantis, the sweetheart), you lose your impulse control.

She was fully awake, just lying there thinking deeply about everything and nothing. Mantis was snoring softly, his cheek was smooshed against her back.

How she wished her life could be this simple every single day, she normally woke up miserable and exhausted due to the knowledge of having to handle an entire war... however, this was rather lovely to wake up to.

“Bian...?” She froze, glancing behind her to see Mantis sleepily looking at her.

He pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder, mumbling, “are you up, Bian? We have work to do later on but... I’m too comfy and my hangover’s already hitting me.” Chrysalis felt inclined to laugh, but bit it back and said, “I’ll tell them we had errands to run, just try to sleep it away.”

“Can’t we get green tea?” He whined, making her chuckle, “we stole some of it from our trip through Fanghai!” He placed a hoof to his head, feeling the headache begin to slowly hit him.

“More like our vacation in Fanghai, dear,” Chrysalis teased, sitting up and brushing her blue mane out of her eyes.

He pouted, “but the tea!” She sighed and agreed as she felt her head pounding a bit, not her worst hangover but it was pretty bad.

In case you were wondering why they were so casual about this, it was because this wasn’t the first time, there were countless ‘incidents’ like this. They loved to refer to these as ‘happy little accidents’ that happened every so often, they were often sweet and pleasant.

The only problem that always arises because of these intimate moments was the question Mantis would always ask without fail, “have you changed your mind yet?” He looked so soft, so breakable whenever he asked this question.

It was almost incredulous that this was her Army’s best General, the most hardened male she had ever met. Yet, in these moments, he seems to sink back into his natural instincts of being gentle and subservient.

“Mantis, you know that we can’t, it would ruin everything I stand for,” she said with a frown, feeling her heart ache at the sight of him seeming to shrink at her words.

“Marriage doesn’t have to be seen as traditional,” he grumbled as he sat up.

She shook her head, “that’s not the point, it’s just... things are difficult, our species is confusing and hypocritical—“

“I get it, your reputation is more important to you than I am,” Mantis cynically noted.

“That’s not what I mean!” She protested, cupping his face in her hooves.

His light blue mane seemed to be mocking her, reminding her and everyone else that she favored him. Every other member of her army lost their manes due to their diet, and they completely envied Mantis for his lustrous mane.

She let him eat solid foods and drink whatever he wanted, claiming that it was a perk of his high position. In reality, it was because she loved seeing how pretty he looked with his mane, “I do adore you, you mean so much to me. Let’s make a deal, I’ll make a decision once the war is over, but I don’t want a traditional wedding if that’s my decision.”

“Sure...” he responded, looking annoyed as he pulled the sheets over his head.

She was about to say something else when he popped his head out, “if you get me a green tea, I won’t be upset about this.” Chrysalis nodded and got off the bed, wincing at her nausea.

It would take her a few extra minutes to navigate her way through the hallways to find a servant, who was more than willing to fulfill her request for two cups of tea with multiple banana slices. She felt a bit embarrassed when a few servants asked as she passed the following questions: ‘are you alright, your majesty?’, ‘you look ill, my Queen!’, and even ‘would you like for one of us to accompany you to your room?’.

She of course, said no to all of those questions, ignoring their protests as she shut the door behind her. She was surprised to see Mantis looking at a map on the floor, looking focused as he made small marks with an ink quill.

The other thing she noticed was the fact that he was wearing his helmet again, which had been discarded on the floor the night before.

“What are you doing?” She questioned as she sat down next to him.

He rolled his eyes, “marking every village that we liberated,” she couldn’t help but notice the large X he made on one of them.

“And that is?” She pointed at it, being answered with, “the village that was massacred by the Equestrians, we only managed to save under two dozen of the villagers.”

She sighed, remembering the carnage she bore witness to just a month ago. “What a shame it was,” she uttered, shaking her head.

“So many potential members of our Army,” she lamented, not noticing the strange look on Mantis’s face as she said this.

“It’s rumored that the massacre will be covered up by the Equestrian Princesses, apparently they weren’t the ones who made the call to kill the villagers,” Mantis explained, practically telling Chrysalis they were back to being professional with each other.

It bothered the Queen with how much it hurt her, but she kept face, “typical of them, those Equestrian dirtbags.”

Then Mantis asked, “when are we going to liberate Flygon? Or are we to wait a bit longer, for the Equestrians to drop their guard?”

“The Equestrians are most likely on high alert, that is if they’re aware of the killings. If they’re not...” she smirked, “I’m sure they wouldn’t care to notice a spy or two hiding in the city.”

He nodded, “brilliant Bi-my Queen,” he stammered when he corrected himself, knowing that it was unprofessional to call her by her birth name.

She had paused for a moment, staring at Mantis before saying, “thank you, Hiroshi.”

They locked eyes, both blushing with nervous smiles. The soft moment was ruined by the door opening, revealing two soldiers and an annoyed looking servant standing there. She could easily recognize the soldiers as Hornet and Nepidae, the couple that pretended like they didn’t make out in every alleyway they found.

While the servant, who she recognized as Katydid, said, “your highness, I tried to calm these two down but they insistent that they needed to speak with you.”

He placed the tray in front of the two, then gave the soldiers a weak glare before walking out. Nepidae began speaking first, “my Queen! We’ve been meaning on sharing this information with you—“

Hornet interjected, “not that we purposely kept this information away from you—“

“—of course we didn’t!”

“But we learned something important about one of our prisoners!”

Chrysalis looked unamused as she said, “oh really, is that so?”

Hornet nodded, “he was a suspicious individual, we originally believed him to be a spy—“

“—But we were instead shocked to find out who he really is, or at least who he’s claiming to be,” Nepidae had slapped his hoof over Hornet’s mouth.

Chrysalis and Mantis gave each other a similar confused look, then the General said, “well what are you waiting for? Spit it out.”

Nepidae was about to answer when Hornet pulled his hoof away, so both answered, “he’s a son of Tsubaki!”

The Queen’s ears perked up, looking extremely intrigued as she said, “is that what he told you? How strange,” then she looked to Mantis, “General Mantis, be a dear and find... what is his name?”

“He stated his name as Yang Jung-ho, but we believe otherwise,” said Hornet, as he proudly held his head up.

General Mantis stood up, wincing a bit, no doubt from his hangover, “I shall retrieve him, my Queen. Do you want me to take him here or back into the interrogation room?” The Queen requested the former as her horn lit up, levitated her tea cup to her lips.

She took a tiny sip before muttering, “Katydid could’ve added jasmine,” then she used her magic to hold the other tea cup up to Mantis, “don’t forget to drink this, I didn’t order him to make it just to have it forgotten.”

“R-right, my Queen,” he blushed as he used his own magic to hold it, saying in a firm voice to the soldiers, “alright, you’ve both done your job, that’s it. You go back, I’ll take over now.”

They both obediently saluted him before going on their way, he swore he could hear them whispering, “why is he in her bedroom?” Which made him scowl in annoyance.

A gentle hoof was placed on his shoulder, making his hard expression drop immediately, his lover whispered, “ignore them, just do as I ordered Hiroshi.”

He nodded, “of course, my Queen. I’ll find this little... nuisance, and perhaps we’ll have him eradicated?”

“No no, I’m interested in what he has to say. I believe he is far more than we expect him to be, we’ll just have to find out.”

Author's Note

I’ve really been wanting to write on these two!! (also I couldn’t help but use General Mantis because I think he deserves a chance with Chrysalis, even if this is a different universe)

Chapter 18: The Rogue Queen

James was panicking, he knew that he was meant to be levelheaded about his situation, he was trained to do so but... you would do the same if you were being dragged through a hallway by the enemy’s General. The only thing that scared him more was when the General told him that the Queen wished to speak with him, which couldn’t possibly go well.

He had revealed too much during his interrogation... Gods how long ago was that?! They weren’t allowing for the prisoners to know the date or time, as if keeping them as separate from the outside world as they could.

Without warning, he was thrown into a room, a bedroom to be exact. He looked around wildly, hyperventilating as he saw the large female that was laying on a Queen-sized bed. She looked pleased to see him, giving him a smile that made a chill run down his spine, something was wrong with it.

It was the Rogue Queen, the one being that every Changeling outside her Kingdom feared...

“General Mantis,” her voice cut through the air like a knife, “leave us be, I want to speak to this... Jung-ho alone.”

General Mantis nodded, bowing before saying, “yes, my Queen.” Then he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Chrysalis gestured for James to come forward, “come sweet child, I don’t bite,” she flashed her sharp fangs as she said this.

“I-I doubt that,” James stammered out, trying to look intimidating against the tall female.

“I just want to ask a few questions, I promise that I won’t harm you. All I need from you is complete, utter honesty.”

The young Changeling knew that he couldn’t trust her, but what choice did he have right now? “Alright, b-but know this. I don’t trust you, and you don’t have to trust my words,” he shakily said as he pointed to himself.

“Fair enough,” she said with a tight smile.

Then slid off the bed, showing off her true height, James just barely reached the top half of her leg. For some reason, he felt any sort of confidence he tried to have shrivel and die in that moment.

“Who are you really, child?” She asked.

He grinned nervously, “didn’t they tell you? My name is Jung-ho—“

“Oh I know that, but I can tell that you aren’t used to being called that.”

He bit back his gasp, “wh-what do you mean?” She cackled in amusement, “we Changelings can sense every type of emotion, or is it still forbidden to take advantage of that ability where you come from?”

She tapped her chin, nodding as she suddenly remembered, “oh right! That’s what’s getting some poor souls banished from their kingdoms nowadays. But I don’t think that’s what happened to you, so tell the truth.”

Her eyes glowed a dangerous green, seeming to light up like her horn, James didn’t understand what was happening before his mouth obediently answered, “I go under James Bridges now.”

He slapped a hoof over his mouth, not believing that he just gave that information away. She placed her hoof under his chin, the glowing increased as she asked, “what were you doing the day of the massacre, and why were you there in the first place?”

“I was trying to save my friend Odonata, and I was attempting to stop my fellow soldiers,” oh Gods! Why was he talking, how can his mouth be moving on it’s own?!

She looked surprised, “‘fellow soldiers’, you say? I get it, you’re working with the Equestrian soldiers aren’t you?”

He nodded, “yes, for a year now.”

He finally understood what she was doing, mind-control, he thought it had just been a myth. “And about your friend Odonata, is he doing the same? What is his connection to the Equestrian soldiers?”

“He’s not a soldier, he’s an ex bar-boy, and is in a monogamous relationship with one of the soldiers.”

“Interesting! Just what I’ve been hoping for, now for you...” she seemed to consider her next action, before deciding to do so.

James coughed out in pain, feeling his chest begin to burn as a strange pink light beamed out from it, going towards Chrysalis’s mouth. She was feeding on his love, and he couldn’t do a thing about it.

His legs fell underneath him, and he turned pale, beginning to feel sick. His mind was fuzzy for a few seconds before it stopped, “y-you won’t get away with this,” he weakly said, not even being able to move his head.

“Of course I will, it’s not like you have the power to stop me!” She giggled, stepping over his still body as she trotted over to her door.

She opened the door, calling out, “Katydid, be a dear and bring the prisoner back to his cell, we have some business to attend to!”

She left the doorway and replacing her was a small male with basil green eyes, he fluttered over to James with a sympathetic look on his face, “forgive her, she’s not usually like this. I’m sure you’ll be welcomed into our Kingdom once the war is done!”

He picked James up, he was lighter than usual due to his weak state, “the effects will wear off in a week or so, the first day is always the worst,” he gently explained.

James could only groan in return, his vision going blurry as he passed out.

“My Queen, there is an Equestrian soldier outside, he’s attempting to bribe the guards,” General Mantis reported upon finding Chrysalis laying on the grass outside.

She lifted her head, “bribe them out of what?” She let out a sweet giggle that made Mantis’s heart skip a beat.

“To release two of our prisoners,” he said, setting his helmet down as he joined his lover.

“He wouldn’t be happening to request...” she started to say, her guess being confirmed by Mantis’s nod.

Then she clapped her hooves, joyfully laughing as he exclaimed, “luck really is on our side, my dearest!” Before Mantis could question what she meant, she threw her arms around his neck.

She leaned forward to whisper, “have them tell that soldier that they will release those two in exchange for whatever he’s offering...”

Mantis raised an eyebrow, “I-I don’t quite understand what your plan is—“ he was interrupted with a soft kiss on the lips, and his love grinning deviously once she pulled away.

She then said in his native language, “何が彼らを襲ったのか彼らは知らないだろう”

‘They won’t know what hit them’

Author's Note

I compare these two to the historical romance between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley
Also this was a short chapter since I’m planning on having a bit of fun with the next one

Chapter 19: The Plan

Author's Note

It’s kind of funny how I didn’t originally intend for Odonata to become an important character, but here we are lmao

Chapter 19: The Plan

Queen Chrysalis was standing in front of two young males, one had yellow eyes while the other had light grey eyes. She then leaned down, her horn illuminating as she mentally transferred something to them. Once she was done, they both bowed before flying out of the room, leaving her alone with General Mantis behind her.

“Remind me again of what your plan is?” He inquired, tilting his head.

She giggled before lightly tapping his horn, making him blush at the intimate contact. “It’s very simple, my dearest, those two are Mayfly and Sowbug, two of my very best spies!”

“And they are going to...?”

“Disguise themselves as the prisoners I promised to release, and they’ll be the reason we win this war,” she explained.

Mantis raised an eyebrow, “how will they do that? I doubt that there’s much for them to do outside, we don’t even know what the prisoners did before we captured them.”

Chrysalis stroked the back of his neck, saying with a grin, “it’s rather interesting what those two were up to, the Royal one is a soldier for the Equestrians,” before Mantis could express his surprise, she continued, “and the other one is in a relationship with one of the soldiers. I’ve already drained the both of them of their love, and as a result I’ve received some of their memories. Now my spies have an idea of how to act around the Equestrians since I’ve transferred that information to them.”

The General was impressed, even he didn’t expect his Queen to do so much in such a short time. “Th-that’s... that’s amazing, my Queen! I could never do something like that,” he was kissed on the cheek, making his mouth snap shut.

“Of course you can do something like that... silly,” Chrysalis teased, but went back to being professional as she said, “they should be done sabotaging the Equestrians in less than a week, then Vietrot shall be ours.”

The two imposters were dragged out of the camp, being thrown in front of the Equestrians who gasped in horror. Mayfly (the yellow eyed Changeling that was disguised as Odonata) made note to himself to beat those two soldiers with a chair once they got back.

The ponies ran towards them, helping them stand up. Pear Butter hugged the imposter James tightly, crying out, “oh thank Celestia you’re both okay! We were so afraid that you had been...” she looked like she could barely utter her next words, so instead she sobbed into his neck.

“I-it’s okay, we’re going to be okay now! Thank the Gods that you remembered us,” Sowbug whimpered, it took everything Mayfly had to not cringe at the ‘Gods’ part.

He felt like he was abandoning his morals by doing this, but then again he had other things to worry about. The brown stallion that embraced him was supposed to be his lover, it was a disgrace for a Changeling to ever submit themselves to a disgusting Equestrian.

It wasn’t the first time he played a role like this, so he choked back his gag and kissed Burnt Oak on the lips. He was thankful that it was quick, as the stallion whispered in a weak , “I-I didn’t know what I was going to do without you...”

“I missed you too,” Mayfly cooed, cupping Burnt’s cheeks in his hooves.

He wasn’t actually in a relationship so he had to try his best, although part of his training was seduction. “C-can we go home?” He uttered, looking at Burnt innocently.

“Of course we can, sugar.”

Mayfly wanted to gag at the sight of the small home, was this really how the city Changelings were living? And he thought he was dirt poor! The mattress was far too small, the carpet looked old and the paint on the wall was faded.

Not much to work with, but oh well!

He hopped on the bed, making his best shy expression, “honey, there’s something I really need from you...” Burnt nodded, sitting next to him.

Burnt Oak took Mafly’s hooves into his own, saying, “anything.”

Mayfly leaned forward and feigned a confession, “you know how we feed on love when desperate? I-I need to do that now, you have no idea how starved I was back at the camp!”

“I thought that you never wanted to do such a thing?” Burnt questioned, beginning to feel a pit in his stomach.

Why was Odonata acting so strangely?

Suddenly Burnt was pulled closer to his ‘love’, who looked up at him with a needy expression. Mayfly pouted his lip, tilting his head in a coy way, “I promise it won’t hurt at all! It even feels nice when done correctly,” his stomach churned as he began kissing at Burnt’s neck, not used to such intimate contact.

He better be getting extra pay for this, he wasn’t a hooker for Chrysalis’s sake...

It surprised him when Burnt pushed him away, saying, “why are you acting so weird? You weren’t like this before you were captured,” then an idea crossed the stallions mind, and he felt sick at the thought of it.

“What’s your full birth name?” He asked, clearly startling the disguised Changeling.

‘That whore told him his birth name?!’ Mayfly thought in a panic, stammering out, “w-why do you ask? My love, come on don’t get distracted about the silly things! Just let me make you feel good,” he attempted to kiss Burnt again when he was shoved away.

“Answer me!” Burnt snapped, making the Changeling cower in fear.

He didn’t think to ask about the hooker’s birth name, he didn’t expect for a Changeling to be that deep in a relationship with an Equestrian! So he said nervously, “I-I don’t understand why you’re asking me this, my love—“

“You never call me that, who in the hell are you, and where is Odonata?!” Burnt shouted, getting off the bed and stepping away from the imposter.

Mayfly could only sigh and grumble to himself, “of course I get caught first...” then he hopped off the mattress and admitted in a sarcastic tone, “well, you caught me, congratulations!”

He turned into himself, looking unamused and even a little embarrassed. Burnt Oak was obviously disgusted by this, and immediately felt horrible for almost betraying his sweet Kim because of a shameless imposter.

The stallion attempted to run out of the home, but was tackled to the ground before he reached the door. He was pinned down, the Changeling leaned forward to whisper in a singsongy tone, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!”

Without warning, Mayfly began to quickly feed on his love. Burnt felt a rush of nausea hit him, and his stomach felt empty all of a sudden while his heart seemed to hurt for a quick moment. So this was exactly why James and Odonata despised Chrysalis, her methods of feeding her subjects was barbaric, even borderline parasitic!

Mayfly was surprised by just how much love the stallion held for the Changeling, his emotions went beyond just lust and desire. They reached to the points of adoration and even devotion! He figured that it was good for his hunger, so he saved his pity for later.

Once he was done, he turned back into Odonata and was about to leave the barely conscious stallion when... he noticed something peculiar. There were two green eggs on a table, wrapped in a navy blue blanket.

He realized that they must have belonged to Odonata and Burnt Oak, which almost made him vomit in his mouth just at the thought of it. Of course a hooker didn’t have a problem with cross breeding, disgusting...

But then again, it would be an advantage if he were to use them against both him and the illegitimate Royal. So he grabbed a satchel that was lying on the ground, and placed the two eggs in the bags.

He could hear Burnt struggling to move, cracking out in a hoarse voice, “pl-please... leave them... a-alone!” Mayfly felt a weird ache in his chest, but ignored it as he began to exit the home with his head held high.

The door shut, and he swore he could hear the stallion begin to cry softly.

Mayfly had tried his best to ignore the pitiful sound before he began to walk down the sidewalk, he didn’t need to draw any suspicion to himself by running off. It didn’t help when an elderly male walked past him and stopped as he said with a smile, “what adorable eggs, may Caritas bless them with beauty and Medella with good health!”

The disguised Changeling smiled back kindly, saying in a grateful tone, “thank you very much, and may the Gods bless you.” He then bowed his head in genuine respect to the Elder, having not see many Elders back in Chrysalis’s kingdom.

Then he giggled, “let’s just hope that silly old tale about twins being bad luck is purely fiction! My poor grubs will already be picked on for that rumor, they don’t need it to be true.”

The Elder nodded in agreement, “yes, let us hope. Have a lovely day, young one,” then he continued on his way.

Mayfly glanced back at the eggs, mumbling to himself, “maybe that silly old folktale is true, your parents and their friends seem to have rotten luck... I wonder what Sowbug is up to.”

Sowbug was sitting across the Equestrian General and the Drill Instructor, still in disguise as the fourteen year old. The older stallion, General Fig, had tears in his eyes as he expressed genuine happiness at his friend’s ‘return’.

The DI even seemed teary eyed, but hid it a lot better than his superior.

“Thank goodness you survived, many of the prisoners are killed the day they enter that cursed camp,” General Fig said as he wiped his tears away.

“I’m happy to be back, sir,” Sowbug responded with a grin, thankfully it was easy to pose as a nymph.

He couldn’t imagine how much Mayfly was struggling with his role, he was beginning to suspect the poor guy was asexual-aromantic. Mainly due to how much he hated speaking about not only romance but the idea of sex, he said it disgusted him beyond anything else.

At some point he was told that he was being promoted from Corporal to Sergeant, which was the same as e-5, which was what they usually called it back at home in the hive.

His conversation with both the Equestrians lasted maybe ten or twenty minutes, he wasn’t keeping track. Before too long, there was a knock on the door and a Lieutenant requested for both the presence of the General and the DI.

General Fig gave Sowbug and tight hug before he left, sending a surge of strong fatherly love through the imposter. He could get used to this type of thing, he waved goodbye to them and said that he’ll get to his work as soon as possible.

Sowbug thought he was alone until a high pitched voice exclaimed, “James, I missed you!” He looked across the desk to now see a small filly with a shiny smile.

In her hooves was a glass jar, full of sweets that he didn’t recognize. Then she opened it with a grunt, pulling out a wrapped sweet and pushing it towards Sowbug.

“Have a candy!” She giggled, blushing a soft pink.

Sowbug was hesitant, not wanting to seem suspicious so he gently pulled the wrapper off and was greeted with a brown ball with small specks covering it. He popped it in his mouth, hoping that it wouldn’t taste as weird as it looked.

He was surprised by the sweet taste of it, his taste buds clearly enjoying it as he slowly chewed on it. He almost asked for another but stopped himself, remembering just how torturous it was to switch his diet completely from solid foods and liquid to just emotions.

He did not want to ever go through that again.

So he held back, instead beginning to really look around the room. He quickly figured out that the filly in front of him must have been related to the General, as there were pictures of them together on the wall with a young mare who she resembled greatly.

His eyes soon fell on the sheets of paper that were sitting on the corner of the desk, he couldn’t help but ask, “what are those for?” She looked at them as well, answering, “Abuelo says that he writes stuff down for the news buggies, and then they show it to the buggies in the city.”

Sowbug assumed that ‘news buggies’ meant the Changelings that ran the newspaper, which made an idea pop into his mind. “Hey kid, you mind handing me a pen? I think I have a story to share with these... ‘news buggies’.”

She dug through one of the drawers and pulled out a pen, which Sowbug grabbed and began writing with his mouth. One of the negatives of feeding on love was the fact that magic was far more difficult to use, so he wasn’t able to levitate objects or even write with it.

Fortunately he was pretty neat with his mouth writing, despite how inconvenient it was. He began writing the title at the top of one of the blank papers, he made sure it was in big bold letters just to add insult towards the Equestrians.

The Sơn Mỹ Massacre

Chapter 20: The Beginning of the End

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 21: The Embassy

Bright Mac followed Mazarine to a location he hadn’t been expecting, the embassy. In fact, he wasn’t the only one going there, it looked like thousands of Changelings flooded the area. Many of them were holding sheets of papers, no doubt their papers for emigration.

He tried to ignore the looks that some of the citizens gave him as he walked past them, focused on getting to the ambassador. He never officially met the guy, having only read messages from him every so often, as well as rumors that he was a sleaze-bag.

That was the least of his concerns though, clearly there was a reason why everyone was here. So once he managed to push past everyone, he saw soldiers that worked under the ambassador stamping emigration papers.

He cleared his throat to get the attention of one of them, it was a brown stallion with a maroon mane. He looked up with an annoyed look, but softened it as he realized it was a pony talking to him, not another Changeling.

“Sorry, you are...?” He questioned, not unkindly.

“Corporal Mac, sir,” Bright Mac answered, then gestured to the crowd of Changelings, “what’s going on? Why have they all gathered here, we were told that we weren’t expected to leave until we won the war?”

The Gunnery Sergeant (Bright Mac knew by the badge), replied with a glare towards the frantic Changelings, “plans have changed, Corporal. The ambassador is pulling out in three days time, says he wants to wait until they can get most of these maggots out of here.”

Bright Mac was obviously startled by this, then it made sense why the newspaper warned for Changelings to start packing; they were expecting to leave this dying country before Chrysalis took over. Another Changeling came up with his papers and placed it on the desk, looking nervous as he tried to say in broken Equinish, “I-I’m the fiancé o-of GI—“

“As they all say, let’s see those papers,” the Gunnery Sergeant replied in a bored tone. As he scanned it, Bright Mac realized that he recognized the young male.

He was one of the bar-boys, Lacewing. That one shy worker that stayed in the corner the entire time Bright and his friends were at that damned brothel, Shangri-La.

He had a soldier for a fiancé now?

The loud stamping noise made Bright jump, he glanced over to see the Gunnery Sergeant telling Lacewing, “I’ve stretched a few rules as I happen to be friends with this fiancé of yours, but as I’ve warned the other maggots, if you miss your chance on the boat then it’s on you.”

Lacewing nodded as he took his papers back, speeding off towards the exit, ignoring the comment the Gunnery Sergeant made, “nice ass!” Bright Mac cringed as he heard this, saying, “when are the soldiers leaving, the same time as the ambassador?”

He was answered with a nod, which made his heart skip a beat. Was this really supposed to be a surprise for the soldiers, some of them had family’s they made in this country, as messed up as the state of it was.

He had to warn Burnt Oak of their departure, and dreaded the conversation that they needed to have. Whether his friend agreed or not, they had to leave Odonata behind...

Burnt Oak woke up with a headache, it worsened when he attempted to sit up. Then a soft voice told him, “hey, don’t move yet. You’re still weak, what happened to you Burnt?” He looked over to see Pear Butter holding a first aid kit, it looked pretty useless in this situation.

That is until she pulled painkillers out of the bottle, then handed a plastic cup of water to him. “Take this, it should help with the headache,” she instructed.

He did as told, gulping both the water and the pill down, it would take awhile for it to fully take affect, “what was your question, again?” She rolled her eyes, repeating, “what happened to you?”

“O-oh...” Burnt thought about it, but couldn’t seem to remember for some reason. Maybe his memory was shot after what happened to him? He could only answer with, “I am... not sure.”

“That’s helpful, “ Pear joked, placing a hoof over his forehead to check his temperature.

Then she tilted her head, “it’s weird, your temperature seems fine. I’ve never seen anything like this, can you recall anything from the last few days?”

He shrugged, “the last thing I remember was when I took Odonata home, after that it’s just a blur.”

Pear winced as she thought of something, hating to suggest it but she couldn’t stop herself, “do you think that... he had something to do with this? Not that he did it on purpose of course! Maybe it was an accident.”

At the offended look she received, she knew she made a mistake. “How could you suggest such a thing, Buttercup?! Odonata is the sweetest soul I’ve ever met!” Burnt snapped, getting angry from the immediate assumption.

“I’m not saying that he meant to do it or that he even did it at all!” Pear explained, “I know it’s been a year but think about it, you probably don’t know everything about him.”

Burnt wanted to retort back with something, but had nothing. She had a point, there was no way he could possibly know everything about him. He just barely found out where he came from, the village they then burned to the ground...

“Where is he?” He suddenly asked, somehow just realizing that his Kim wasn’t here.

Pear frowned, admitting, “I’m not entirely sure, I’ve been with you all day. I actually haven’t seen him in awhile...”

The stallion bit his lower lip, feeling his stomach churn from worry. Where could Kim have gone? He wasn’t here by his side, which was strange for his kind character.

Before the two could say anymore, there was a light knock on the door. Burnt shifted to get up but Pear held her hoof up, shaking her head as she mouthed, ‘I’ll get it.’

Once she opened the door, she was surprised to see her husband standing there. He had a nervous look in his eye as he glanced over her shoulder, “i-is he...?”

“He’s awake and doing alright, I think that with enough rest and proper medication he’ll be good by tomorrow or the day after.”

“Thank Celestia,” Bright Mac sighed, then gestured for her to come out of the room. She looked at Burnt with concern, but the brown stallion just waved her off with a patient smile.

So she followed Bright out, shutting the door behind her, “is something wrong, hun’?” She questioned, feeling nervous as he nodded his head.

“I-it’s... about Odonata,” he started, once she nodded with an, “okay, what about him?” He continued.

“There’s only one thing that could’ve happened to Burnt, and it’s something that James explained to us awhile ago. I-I think that...” he gulped, forcing himself to say it, “Odonata may have fed on his love, I know there’s no physical proof but what other explanation do we have?”

Pear’s lip twitched, feeling guilty as she had the same conclusion earlier. Then she admitted, “I honestly thought the same thing, but when I suggested it to Burnt he denied it. Maybe Odonata didn’t do anything and this was from something else. Then again, Burnt says that the last thing he remembers was when he took Odonata home...”

Bright Mac looked at the door, sighing, “that might be the proof we need,” he paused as he bit his lip, then asked, “can... can you discuss this with him?”

“M-me?!” Pear squeaked, shaking her head. There was no way she could do this, her heart already ached at the thought of it.

“He’d be calmer with you, I know for sure that he’ll punch me if I even suggest it,” Bright pleaded, taking her hooves in his.

As much as he hated to make this argument, he was desperate to not tell his friend himself, “Buttercup, do you love me enough to do this!” She gasped and snapped back, “Mac, don’t you dare use that with me!”

He only gave her one last pleading look, before she sighed and grumbled, “fine, but you owe me big time for this...”

She gently opened the door, stepping in as she quietly said, “hey... we need to talk.”

Burnt Oak straightened up, nodding his head, “I’m listening.” Pear looked back at the door, seeing Bright Mac give her an encouraging look before shutting the door.

Of course...

“It’s about Odonata,” she started, which made Burnt scrunch his nose.

“What about him?” He asked.

Pear thought about how to break it to him, so without thinking she questioned, “how much do you really love Odonata?”

He smiled brightly, which only made this harder for her, “it’s so... weird, how much I love him, I mean. We’ve even discussed how our wedding would be, small and private, it suits us, I think. I-I can’t even... begin to imagine life without him once I get back to Equestria, if anything, Vietrot feels like home because of him.”

The mare was conflicted, “what if you weren’t able to take him home, like if something kept you from him?”

“I think I’d die if we got separated, that damn Changeling makes everything here seem a little... brighter, ya know?” Burnt replied, his cheeks flushing a soft red.

He then laughed to himself, muttering, “hell, I want to be a better stallion because of him. I’ve never even thought about bettering myself before him, I always figured that I was good enough to be considered decent.”

Celestia help her, Pear couldn’t break his heart. All she could think of to say was, “that’s really sweet, I’m sure Odonata misses you as well. In fact, Bright just told me that the poor thing caught the cold and is stuck at home. So I’m afraid that he won’t be able to visit you, maybe I can deliver a message to him?”

It was wrong of her to do this, it was so much easier to lie but at the same time, it was going to hurt even worse later on since she didn’t tell the truth. He nodded, simply saying, “just tell him that I love him very much, and that I hope he’ll get better really soon.”

Pear gave him a fake smile, “will do, Oak! Just try and get some more rest now, so you can be out in at least two days.” She then turned around, her smile dropped and she suddenly felt sick.

As she left the room Bright whispered, “how’d he take the news?” Pear gave him a weak glance, having nothing else to say but this.

“Better than I expected...”

It was too much for his poor heart to handle, she prayed that it wouldn’t bite her in the near future for lying.

Chapter 22: The Fall of Flygon

Author's Note

First of all, I’m sorry for the angst that’s gonna start and my writers block keeping me from writing
Second of all, in case you’re confused with why Odonata’s name is different sometimes it’s because of this: whenever I’m writing it to be in Burnt Oak’s “POV” he refers/thinks of Odonata as Kim while everyone else calls him Odonata (due to the fact they don’t know his birth name, unlike Burnt)

Chapter 22: The Fall of Flygon

Odonata didn’t expect the trip home would take him and James hours, turns out the walk was much longer than either expected. It wasn’t helped by the fact that he had two grubs on his back, who constantly whined and chirped for attention (not that Odonata minded of course!). They were also paranoid about Chrysalis’s Army, as they were trying to take over the city anytime now.

James kept grumbling to himself in a different language, it sounded familiar to Odonata so he asked, “what are you speaking? I feel like I’ve heard it before.”

“Byeonrean,” James answered nonchalantly as he stared at the ground.

Odonata cocked an eyebrow, “that’s an... odd language to know? For a Thaydonese Changeling that is, I’d expect you to know Prench at most.”

The younger stopped in his tracks, seeming to realize that he never told Odonata his origins. Well he might as well, it’s not like he could really do anything bad with them, he wasn’t an idiot, “it’s a long story, are you that willing to listen?” James warned.

“It’s not like we have anything better to do, besides a good story might make these two fall asleep,” Odonata nodded, smiling kindly at his young friend.

“Well if you’re sure about this, might as well,” James mumbled, continuing, “you see, a couple of years ago...”

“I can’t wait to see him again!” Burnt Oak exclaimed as he was helped out of bed by Pear Butter, who had a look of guilt on her face.

Then she covered it up with a smile, “I’m sure he’s excited to see you too, why the last time I talked to him he was so worried about you!” Lie after lie she told, unlike her husband she was capable of doing it.

But it didn’t mean that she liked doing it, lying left a bad taste in her mouth and she feared the future consequences of this lie. She watched as Burnt left the room with a grin on his face, seeming as happy as can be.

She could only hope that Odonata hadn’t been the one to injure him, it was blatantly obvious that he was probably the perpetrator... ‘positive thoughts, Pear, just positive!’ She thought to herself as she shook her head.

Then she left the room as well with a conflicted look on her face, eventually, since she wasn’t looking up, she bumped into someone, “oh sorry about that!” She apologized with an embarrassed blush.

She looked up to see a light blue Pegasus with an orange mane and freckles on her cheeks, her name slipped Pears mind, “that’s quite alright dear, you’re Buttercup right?” The mare said.

“Y-yeah,” Pear nodded, then her hoof was grabbed to shake. “I’m Windy Whistles, you might know Sergeant Hothoof. I’m his happily married wife!” Windy introduced herself with a toothy grin on her face.

Then she raised an eyebrow, glancing at Pear’s back before questioning, “how come you’re not packed yet, haven’t you heard the news?”

Pear was confused, “wh-what news?” Windy sighed and gestured to her own back, which had a fully packed saddlebag on it.

“We’re all leaving first thing tomorrow,” Windy answered.

“Wait what?!” Pear unintentionally shouted before slapping a hoof over her mouth, then she removed it with a shocked look, “why? D-did something happen that I didn’t hear about...”

Windy winced, “apparently Chrysalis’s army is going to take the city in the morning because Queen Femina is surrendering, and the ambassador decided to save the ponies from being involved. Something like ‘our kind shouldn’t have lingered with theirs for this long’, so now we’re leaving in the morning.”

The Pegasus then tilted her head, “on the bright side though, everypony’s going home! Isn’t that an amazing thing?”

Pear breathed in and out shakily, she hadn’t expect for something like this to happen. Then she realized, did her husband know about this...“Were the soldiers informed of this?”

“Mhm,” Windy nodded, “in fact, Bow told me this morning. It’s the reason why I came over here and packed up my personal belongings, I should be going now... I’ll see you on the boat tomorrow, Buttercup!”

With that, she walked around Pear and exited the building, not knowing that she dropped the biggest bomb on the earth pony.

Odonata let out a relieved sigh as he entered his home, feeling exhausted from not only the long walk but the entire story that was told to him on the way. James had explained everything to him, from how he was an illegitimate son of an Empress to the whole Danh Van Tranh being his birth father.

It was a lot to take in but at the same time, it felt nice to be trusted like that. For James to confide such a massive secret to him... it made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, it was amazing to have someone that close to him.

He smiled softly as he lightly set the saddlebags down, picking up each of his grubs and gently settling them down on the bed before pressing a single kiss to both their heads. “You both deserve some rest my sweet grubs, especially after all that crying on the way home,” he nuzzled them both one last time before fluttering up on the bed as well and resting his head.

Before he knew it, he fell into a peaceful and long awaited slumber. Odonata wasn’t a light sleeper so he didn’t wake up when the door was opened, it was Burnt Oak standing there with a bright grin on his face.

The stallion lightly shut the door and went over to the bed, scooping up both the grubs and taking a long moment to look at them. He shed a few tears as the grubs seemed to recognize him as their other parent, most likely from his scent as they nuzzled his chest with their tiny muzzles, chirping happily.

He figured that they must’ve hatched while he was gone, when he glanced towards his sleeping lover he wasn’t sure if he knew if they hatched already. A part of him wanted to wake him up but he decided not to, he looked adorable when he slept anyways.

So he looked around their home and settled on letting the grubs sleep in a small basket he found, making sure to put a pillow and blankets in it for them to be comfy. They both yawned as they were set down, huddling together for more warmth as they fell asleep.

Burnt wasn’t sure what made them so tired but then again, foals back at home mainly just slept, ate, and pooped all the time. This was probably normal for Changeling ‘grubs’ as Kim referred to them as, it would take the stallion awhile to get used to Changeling terms.

He walked to the bed he shared with Kim, settling next to him before pulling him close to his chest. The guy was a deep sleeper anyways, he wouldn’t wake up if somepony slapped him across the face.

Still, Burnt couldn’t help but whisper, “sweet dreams my angel, I love you...” before softly kissing the top of his head.

Kim seemed to subconsciously smile from the affection, making Burnt’s heart melt.

If only he knew this was the last time he’d be with his Kim for a very long time...

He woke up the next morning with a yawn, noticing that Kim still hadn’t woken up. The poor thing must’ve been exhausted from the day before, maybe he had been working the market again? He heard that it was a nightmare with all the customers yelling and demanding for lower prices.

He couldn’t help but chuckle before kissing Kim’s cheek and getting out of bed, he needed to get ready and report to the General. He had been gone for... about a week maybe from what he heard from Buttercup.

As he got ready, he noted to himself to buy baby blankets for the grubs to sleep with. Maybe he could get a good sale on them at the market since he was a soldier?

Once he was done putting on his uniform, he went over to kiss his grubs on the head before leaving with one last loving glance to his wonderful family. He couldn’t wait to finally take them all back to Equestria once this war was over... however, first things first.

He needed to find out if Kim needed emigration papers since he heard that if a Changeling had a child with an Equestrian, they’d get out of the country for free without papers. He left with this on his mind, it certainly would make everything so much easier.

He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn’t even realize that the streets were empty, if he had been paying attention he might’ve noticed the abandoned newsstand with headlines that would’ve warned him.

Before he knew it he was on military grounds, making his way to where General Fig should be residing that day. Something that pulled him out of his thoughts were the soldiers running around with their saddlebags, what in the name of Celestia were they doing?

He figured that once he talked to the General he’d get his answer. Without warning somepony grabbed his arm and yanked him back, startling him. He turned to see Bright Mac’s panicked face, “why aren’t you packed, didn’t you hear the news?!”

“News, what’s news? Did I miss something when I was gone?” Burnt had never been so confused in his life, why was he supposed to be packing?

“Burnt we’re leaving today, the ambassador’s given up on helping because the Vietrot Queen plans on surrendering!” Bright exclaimed, shaking Burnt’s shoulders.

Burnt gulped, “w-wait, we’re leaving right now?!” Bright nodded.

“Shit, Kim’s still at home!”

“Who?”

“Odonata I mean, I-I need to grab him! I’ll be back as soon as possible, cover for me—“

He hadn’t expected for Bright to shout, “no! You can’t go back, didn’t Buttercup tell you?” He grabbed Burnt’s hoof tightly, bordering pain even.

“Tell me what?!” Burnt snapped as he tried to wrench his hoof away... but Bright was stronger.

His friend’s lip quivered as he said, “you can’t bring him, I won’t let you.”

Burnt didn’t know how to react, he tried to form a sentence when they both heard something that made them freeze. It was the sound of a fence rattling, once they turned to look they saw citizens of Flygon shaking the gate and shouting to get their attention.

Bright Mac sighed shakily, “we were supposed to leave before too many of them came...”

One of their superiors went up to the Changelings and demanded silence, once they quieted down enough he ordered, “I want order and silence from all of you, the ambassador isn’t leaving until everyone’s out! The boats on the way and there’s room for you all!”

He gave an approving look to two other soldiers standing by the gates, they opened it with some hesitation and immediately Changelings began to flood the area. They fled towards the docks and some cried from happiness, they wouldn’t have to face the wrath of Chrysalis.

Burnt Oak took the confusion as a chance to run towards the exit, he needed to get out of here! Unfortunately his plan was short lived as he was stopped by Sergeant Rivera, “sorry Corporal, the General ordered for ponies to not leave the grounds for any reason.”

The smug bastard didn’t even try to hide his amusement.

“Once the ship gets here we’re gone,” his smile didn’t leave as Burnt tried to move around him.

This couldn’t be happening... he promised Kim that he’d bring him home!

He cracked out, “b-but please, I need to do something first. The love of my life is still in the city—“

“Then if he misses the ship it’ll be his fault, get to your post Corporal,” Sergeant Rivera snapped.

The younger stallion began to hyperventilate, was this his fault? Was it going to be on him if Kim didn’t get the message to flee the city, oh dear Celestia if he didn’t leave...

He might be killed by Chrysalis’s soldiers.

Burnt Oak could only walk back towards his post, for the first time praying to the Gods that Kim always talked about: ‘I know you might not bother to hear an Equestrian but please, help your loyal follower who is also the boy I want to marry.’

He just stood and watched, hoping to see the face of his lover among the crowds of Changelings. He didn’t know how much time must have passed, maybe minutes or even hours but he was startled by a soldier with a megaphone shouting something that made his heart drop.

“That’s it, no more Changelings allowed on the ship, close the gates!”

The screams from the Changelings behind the gates filled Burnt’s ears, they knew they were doomed. With shaky legs he walked to the soldier with the megaphone and asked in a weak voice, “d-didn’t the ambassador say all the Changelings?”

The soldier shook his head, “the message from him stated that Princess Celestia didn’t want to take too much of a risk with the Changelings.”

“Risk? What risk?! They just want to leave,” Burnt protested, gesturing to the Changelings who were attempting to fly over the gate only to get scared away by shots.

“Look the Princesses words not mine, she thinks their ability to change form is too much of a threat to us. She told the ambassador to only allow a couple thousand onboard, not my idea, hers.”

The cries and pleads that Burnt overhead only made this argument worse...

“Take us with you!”

“Please take our nymphs!”

“We have our papers, look!”

“They’ll kill us when they get here!”

“Don’t leave us behind here, please!”

Burnt tried to cover his ears, but their yelling was loud and clear to him.

“Let me on, my wife left already!”

“I have gold, I’ll pay whatever the price!”

Then one voice in particular caught his attention, “sir, listen to me, my husband is waiting inside! You see our children, please let us on.”

He looked to the source, seeing the desperate face of his lover. Next to Kim was James, who was hurling curses in Thaydonese towards Sergeant Rivera.

Burnt Oak immediately ran towards them but was once again stopped by the Sergeant, who held his hoof between him and the gate. “I told you if he misses the ship it’s on him, and this little maggot...” he gestured to James, who flinched at the derogatory term.

“Is the one who exposed the massacre to everyone! Even wrote his name at the bottom, proud of what you’ve done huh, Bridge?”

James shook his head, “I didn’t do that! I wasn’t even here during that, I was detained at the camp with Odonata when that imposter wrote it.”

Before Burnt could even process what James was telling him, he was grabbed by the arm and dragged away once again by Bright Mac. He heard Kim crying for Bright to let him go, but the yellow stallion didn’t listen, only tugging harder and muttering under his breath, “you can’t trust him, Buttercup was supposed to tell you that.”

“Mac let me go, what are you going on about?!” Burnt yelled, only to get thrown to the ground.

Once he gathered himself he continued to shout, “why should we be saved instead of them! They deserve to leave more than we do, I won’t leave without him!”

“He’s the one who nearly killed you, that’s why you’re not bringing him with us!” Bright snapped back, “remember when you were in the care of the nurses, that’s because Odonata fed off your love as some sort of revenge for the massacre!”

Burnt Oak glared at him, “is there even proof that this is true? Or is it some conspiracy theory you and Buttercup came up with.”

He tried to get back up when a pistol was pointed at him, making him freeze.

He knew his friend was desperate to make him stay but not this desperate... he slowly said in a calm voice, “Bright Mac, put the gun down, let’s talk this out.”

“Listen to me carefully Burnt,” Bright started with genuine sadness in his voice, “if some dreams get crushed, perhaps it’s best they were. Neither of us are cruel, war is the thing that’s destroying everyone here. The ship will be here any minute and I’m sorry that you’re hearing this now but...” he gestured to the two Changelings with a tilt of his head, “they’re not the only ones we’ll have betrayed.”

And as fate would have it, the ship arrived at that very moment. Burnt felt tears begin the fill his eyes as it really hit him, they were leaving both James and Kim behind and there was nothing he could do about it.

It was too late and Bright Mac could literally kill him if he tried to look back, leaving him with no choice but to slowly walk towards the ship with his head down. Ignoring the cries and protest from his friend and love, he stepped onto the ship.

The only thing that hurt more was the knowledge that they weren’t allowed to speak much on this event, as the General told them that Princess Celestia planned on keeping the entire thing as quiet as possible. He’d be forced to keep his mouth shut about the horrors he’s witnessed, the dear friend he and Bright Mac made, and even the love he had for one of the citizens of Flygon.

As he looked around the ship to see the handful of citizens that got on, he felt his heartbreak as he heard them whispering about not seeing a relative or friend on board. There were probably millions of Thaydonese Changelings, while they were only allowed to save around a thousand of them.

The rest of them... Gods help them, not only will they have to be forgotten but they were going to be forced to go under Chrysalis’s rule.

Burnt Oak squeezed his eyes shut, not knowing whether or not he wanted to forget everything here. On one hoof, it was hell due to the fact they were in a war, on the other hoof he made some of the best memories of his life.

“I-I’m so sorry...” a soft voice sobbed next to him, he opened his eyes to see Pear Butter standing there.

She threw her hooves around his neck, “I should’ve told you the truth in the first place! T-this is all my fault!”

He had nothing else to say but, “it’s alright Buttercup, you couldn’t have known this would happen.”

Perhaps the Fall of Flygon was truly inevitable and there was no way to stop it. And maybe them leaving James and Odonata behind was meant to happen, whether they liked it or not.

Chapter 23: Leaving Vietrot

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Epilogue: Only Time Will Tell

A tall alicorn with a colorful flowing mane was sitting across an equally tall Changeling Empress, both were calmly sipping tea and silently eating scones. The alicorn was Queen (or princess as she prefers) Celestia of Equestria, while the other was Empress Tsubaki of Neighon.

Empress Tsubaki took one last sip before setting her cup down, sighing with a concerned look. “I feel a disturbance... Eun Ae, where is the General?” she called out for her wife, who poked her head out from the door.

“She is on her way here with an urgent message, my dearest,” she replied with whatever confidence she could muster.

However, her composer was broken as someone else poked their head from the door, she groaned in annoyance at the mere sight of the male. He had a long green mane that reached his shoulders and a sultry look in his eyes, “my lady, should I wait in your bedchamber for your meeting to be done?”

Eun Ae looked back at him and glared sharply, snapping, “how dare you speak of such vulgar things in front of me...”

Her wife nodded with a kind smile, “that would be much appreciated, my lovely.” The male grinned mockingly at Eun Ae before bowing to the Empress, walking away with his head held high.

That male was none other than Park Seo-jun, though you might recognize him by his real name: Danh Van Tranh.

“Tsubaki!” Eun Ae protested with a desperate look, she was ignored as her wife looked back at the Equestrian Queen.

“I'm afraid that something has happened to our dear Queen Femina, though if I'm being honest, I could care less what happens to her,” Tsubaki shrugged.

Queen Celestia tilted her head in confusion, “why aren't you? That sounds quite harsh to me, especially since she has been suffering more than you have during the war.”

The Empress was about to respond when another voice filled the room, “Empress Tsubaki,” the two rulers turned to see who it was.

It was General Spittlebug, her face was grim as she reported, “Queen Femina has been executed by slow slicing, they say that Chrysalis was the one to do it...”

All Tsubaki could do was wince and mumble, “ouch.” Queen Celestia was unsettled with how calm the Changeling in front of her was.

“I was also informed that her corpse was dragged around the city of Flygon, Chrysalis declared it as her victory.”

“I expected nothing less from a Queen who can't even defend her country from a rival, now we have to deal with a tyrant for the next few years. Let's hope that she grows bored of this before then, ” Tsubaki used her magic to levitate her hat onto her head.

Then she gestured for Celestia to follow her, which the Queen did with some hesitation.

Celestia hadn't known what to expect from the Changeling Empress, but she wasn't expecting her to be so cold towards not only her wife but one of her fellow Queens who was just murdered. “Where are going?” she asked as she was lead away from the room, glancing at the walls to see tapestries, portraits, and religious statues placed against them.

“To the balcony, I must show you something,“ the Empress answered smoothly.

It took them only a few minutes to walk there, although the awkward silence made it seem even longer to Celestia. She almost forgot why she came here in the first place, then she remembered that it was an attempt to seal an alliance with the Changelings...

Or at least with one of their colonies, the Changelings were far more complex than she expected. Celestial had been surprised to learn that feeding on love wasn't a common thing to do among Changelings and that they even had their own culture!

“Aha! We're here,” Tsubaki announced, sliding the doors open and taking a step outside.

Celestia followed after her, stopping in her tracks with a soft gasp. The sight she saw was... Unusually beautiful.

Ancient-looking buildings and homes were surrounding the palace, all of them had awe-inspiring gardens. Aligning the walkway to the palace were trees with pink blossoms sprouting from them, cherry blossom trees as Tsubaki translated for her.

The sight was only more lively due to the Changelings flying around, conducting everyday errands, and speaking to each other in Chenjinese. One thing she noticed was how all of them had light blue manes, the ones who appeared to be male had long shiny manes and were wearing an unusual set of clothes.

They appeared to be robed with flowery patterns, some had long flowing sleeves while others had smaller ones. The females on the other hoof had much shorter manes and their robes looked much simpler in design with an overcoat over them.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” Tsubaki whispered after placing a gentle hoof on Celestia’s shoulder.

The Equestrian Queen nodded in agreement, “I've never seen such fruitful gardens and lively streets! The plants and flowers here are simply divine!”

Tsubaki blushed as she had been referring to the males working on rice fields not too far away. “O-oh yes! The extravagant gardens here are among our greatest pride, after the architecture of course... And the male's beauty...” she mumbled the last part mainly to herself but Celestia heard.

“Pardon?” she questioned with a chuckle.

“Nothing of importance, any way you must understand that this is the Empire I have helped built,” Tsubaki mused, “every Empress before me has done the same for this place, it is not my responsibility to protect another Queen’s Kingdom. I can't do that, I'm always so busy with...”

Celestial couldn't help but interject with annoyance, “you seem to be perfectly content with everything, even being unfaithful to your partner! You call that being busy? Sleeping around with–what does your kind refer to them as... Oh right, concubines.”

The Empress scrunched her nose up, grumbling, “what I do with my spare time is my business, not yours. You don't see me speaking about your crime from centuries ago when you sent your little sister to the moon—”

She stopped herself, seeing the look of guilt on the other ruler’s face. “You cannot judge my actions when you don't take responsibility for yours, I have my right to seek comfort in the arms of others. While you have the right to keep secrets to yourself, the only ones who can give proper judgment to royalty are the Gods themselves.”

“My Lady,” General Spittlebug said from the doorway, “what is our next course of action? Shall I send our soldiers to Vietrot to reclaim the land as ours?”

“That won't be necessary, what happens to Vietrot shouldn't affect us at all—”

“But there are refugees who escaped from it, they are said to be sailing towards any land they can find. Also, from what I've been told there's a young boy who resembles royalty who fled.”

Tsubaki froze, the image of a certain grub filling her mind, “... What does he look like, and has the reached land yet?”

The General nodded her head, “he has a green mane and pupils instead of the commoner's eyes, he was traveling with another Changeling.”

The Empress gulped, her heart stung from an emotion she couldn't detect... guilt or a strange sense of relief? She asked where he was, her answer was simple, “he and about five other Changelings have landed in Trotland. I'm assuming that the other Changelings on the ship passed away during their voyage, shall we keep a close eye on him.”

“Yes, I would like that,” Tsubaki said with a conflicted look on her face.

She looked towards Celestia and whispered, “We must continue this conversation another time, meaning that the discussion of the alliance will have to be brought up later; I have important business to attend to right now.”

“I understand,” Celestia replied, “I believe that I have things to do as well, it appears that the war is over with... For now at least.”

“Forgive me, this must be a headache for you, ” Tsubaki chuckled weakly as she began to walk away.

Celestia sighed, glancing back towards the lively city around them.

She thought to herself, ‘an alliance between us now seems impossible but, only time will tell.’

Then she spread her wings and took flight, leaving the palace behind her with a heavyweight on her shoulders. The Changelings were going to have to be kept secret for just a little while longer, soon they will all be able to stand side by side in peace.

She could only hope for the best, not only for her ponies but the Changelings as well...